Love at it's Greatest Hour
by HopeofSkys
Summary: Lucy left the guild two years ago, leaving with nothing, but pain. Now she is back and Natsu wants to confess his love for her. But she is captured by a foe from her past. Will he recuse Lucy from that man or will he lose her forever?
1. Chapter 1: Lucy

**Credit:** **ElementalMiko12**

 **I got all of my ideas from reading "Remembering our Fairy Tail."**

 **Chapter 1**

 **Natsu POV**

It's been two years since Lucy left the guild. I don't even know why she left. I remember crying for months after she disappeared. My nightmares always came back to haunt me. **It's your fault she left. You were the reason. You love her but still ignored her because Lisanna came back. You ignored her for two months. Lucy was crying. You erased her entire existence.**

Natsu shot up from his hammock and flipped onto the floor with Happy down in front of him. "Sorry there bud. Had a bad dream…" Natsu whispered with a sad tone.

"It's ok Natsu." Happy slowly begun to to stand up and scratch the back of his head. "What were you dreaming about anyway that made us flip over?" Happy said, still hurting because he hit the back of his head. "I was dreaming about fish and ughhhhhhhhh they looked so good~" he said, desperately with his eyes hungry for fish

"Luce…"

"Oh." A sorrowful look rushed onto Happy's face. "Do you think she will come back to us?" Happy cried, despairing.

"I believe she'll come back to us buddy. She'd never leave her family lying around," Natsu stuttered. Tears began forming under his eyes.

He walked over to his board of his memories, while tears flowed down his face. He stared at the pictures of him and Lucy during missions. Memories rushed back into his head. He looked at her face; her smile meant the world to him. When she smiled, she always made him feel happy. For some reason, he felt like she wasn't gonna come back.

Natsu eyed at the coffee colored board, scanning at all the memories. He remember all of them like they all happened yesterday. **From now on, you are officially a part of our team.** He laugh at that memory and begun scanning again. He stopped at the letter she composed for him before she left.

 _Dear Natsu,_

 _It was the best time of my life when you invited me to Fairy Tale. I met my second favorite family because of you. I met you, my bestfriend, and my brothers and sisters because of you and I am grateful for that. If you feel upset reading this, it wasn't your fault. You were simply telling the truth that I was weak, and dragging the team down._ No Lucy. I don't remember telling you that. You're the strongest person I know and I love you for it.

 _That is why I concluded to leaving the guild for a couple of years. I want to get stronger on my own. I hate that I have to fully depend on others, having people to protect me because I'm weak. I hate that I can't even fight by your side. When I come back, I promise you, I will be strong. So please take care Natsu. And take care of the women you love, Lisanna. I never got to tell you I love you._

 _Your best-friend_

 _-Lucy Heartfilia_

He stared at the very last three words. _I love you._ He was so stupid. Why didn't he tell her? "I never loved Lisanna, Lucy. It was always you." he mumbled to himself with sadness and anger in his tone. Hot tears streamed down his face to the edge of his chin, dripping to his vest. He was angry at himself, so being so foolish.

 **1 hour later…**

Natsu walked in the loud guild hall, along with Happy. Apparently, the guys were fighting about someone taking a plate of bacon.

"Are you ok Natsu?" Happy asked.

"Yeah bud. I'm alright." Natsu replied, trying to force a smile. He walked over to the empty bar, except for Cana, jugging down a barrel of alcohol. "Hey Mira."

"Yeah Natsu. What do you want to order today?" Mira asked, happily while clean a small glass cup.

"Can you get me a small plate of bacon, please?" he uttered, sadly.

"Awww. What's wrong Natsu? I thought the word 'small' wasn't in your brain. You

normally order large plates of food this time of day," she somewhat ask complaining.

"I don't feel like eating a lot today," Natsu muttered while arching his back so he

could lay the side of his head on the counter.

"Natsu isn't feeling well today Mira," Happy interrupted, remembering Natsu staring

at the letter this morning.

"Alright then. I'll cook up some bacon," Mira put down the cup she was cleaning and

started to cook some bacon. Natsu mentally thanked Happy for interrupting the conversation because he didn't want to continue the conversation.

"Wassup fire-princess." Grey walked over to the counter, in his underwear, and leaned on the counter.

"Put some clothes on, Grey." Natsu growled, sounding irritated. Gray was surprised that Natsu didn't counter him.

"Whatever flame-brain. Anyway, we got a job to do. A town a couple hours away ask us to take down a dark guild that has been inhabiting the town. It's called _Black Death._ Me, you, Erza and Lisanna on the job. The reward is two million jewel." he said, holding up the flier.

"What about Happy?"

"Sorry Natsu. I already promised I would go on a job with Wendy, Carla, and Romeo."

"Alright whatever." Natsu said, depressed.

"Aye!"

"We leave in an hour and thirty."

 **Lucy POV**

"Contact the Black Assassin now and bring the lacrima to me," Head of the Magic Council commanded.

"Yes sir." The servant obediently rushed out of the room.

"We need to do something about "Black Death" now. They having been causing us too much trouble. These dark guilds will never learn." He chuckled to himself, stroking his beard.

"Here is the communication lacrima, sir." the servant said, while bowing and offering the greenish orb in his hand.

"Good. Now leave." The council member deposited a small amount of magic power into the orb, waiting for her to answer his call. The orb glowed red, indicating that she hasn't picked up.

"Ahhh. Now you answer."

"I'm sorry. I was busying picking fruit sir. What do you need this time?"

"There is a dark guild inhabiting a town a couple hours away from you. Destroy it. And if you can, bring me that book so we can seal it away. I believe this will be the 53rd dark guild if you take it down."

"Well of course. I will do ask you wish sir."

"Thank you. You are brilliant. Onto another subject my dear, why did you not join the Ten Wizard Sa-" Well then. I guess she doesn't like to bring up the subject, he thought.

 **Natsu POV**

"So this is the Black Death's guild hall. Apparently, they have been roaming the city, torturing people if they found out people were against the guild being there. There has been other rumors but I doubt that dark guilds would go even that far." Erza said with a straight face.

"Whatever. Let's kick their asses." Grey said, punching his fist together.

"I'm fired up now!" Natsu yelled, with both of his fist in flames.

"Now you feeling better huh. I guess you still have you fighting spirit." Lisanna said, as sweetly as she could, trying to win over his affection. She grabbing his hand, but Natsu unconsciously pulled away and kicked down the door.

"LET'S EAT FLAMEEEEESS!" Natsu began punching people with his iron fist. "Fire Dragon Roar!" Flames shot out of his mouth burning his enemy and their guild hall.

"What the hell? What crazy person wants to mess with us?" someone smirked.

"That idiot!" Grey yelled, tightening his fist at his side. He ran through the knocked down doors while the girls followed behind him. "Today might be the death of this dumbass! Ice make hammer!"

"Requip: Heaven's Wheel!"

"Animal Soul: Tiger Form!" The four fought for ten minutes, taking down most of the guild members, but they couldn't move forward into the guild hall. They were still being cornered at the entrance. Then the guild members were moving aside, making a pathway.

"Well, well. Fairy Tale. I knew the town contacted another magical guild, but I didn't think it would be weaklings like you. Be gone. Vanish into the abyss." The man lifted his arms. "Cursed Poison!" Black smoke arose out of his hand and began to slowly circle around the four of them.

"What is this?" Erza said, covering her mouth.

"It's poison! Don't breath it in!" yelled Grey

"I don't know…" Lisanna fell to the floor.

"LISANNA!" the three yelled. While the three were distracted, a member ran to Gray with a sword and stabbed him through the gut.

"GREY!" Natsu yelled, coughing. Grey fell to the floor while Erza and Natsu were at their knees.

 **Lucy POV**

 _This is the guild hall I believe_ , she thought. She was wearing a back coat that covered her entire body to her ankles. Underneath, she had two black scythe with a very dark pink blade and semi-short handles. They were used for assassination, staying quiet in the shadows. They were both held on her back making a 'X'.

She had a dark blue top, with black shorts, outlined with white. _How should-._

"LISANNA!" someone screamed.

The assassin ran quickly toward the guild. She still had a little distance. _Was that Erza?_

 **ERZA POV**

Erza was still standing with tears flowing. "Ha. Finish them off." the master said, despicably. Erza couldn't requip and was falling. All her friends have fallen and she was on the ground helpless. She needed to fight. _I will not lose. This is not the end._ She stood up, trying to not breath in the poison, but it was too late. Her vision began to blur. She saw white spots forming. A black figure appeared in front of her. _This can't be the end._ "Enchant: Healing bubble Form One." Her consciousness was returning. She can move. The spots disappeared and she could see clearly. She found herself in a greenish floating bubble with the others. Her wounds were vaporizing into thin air, leaving nothing, but small scars. Everyone was now conscious. "Absolute Cancel." The black fog disappeared. _What is this magic?_

"Ahh. I didn't expect someone to come to their desperate need."

"Gray, Lisanna, Erza….Natsu." The person in black mumbled, quietly.

"Ezra...that scent." Natsu said quietly. He remembered it, but couldn't pinpoint it.

"Who is that?" Gray asked, getting up slowly. "And why are they helping us?"

"I don't know." Erza said, quietly. "But that person knows our names."

 **ORIGINAL POV**

A single tear ran down her cheek. The hood of her cloak shadowed the top half of her face, just exposing her lips. She grabbed the handles of her two blades from her back. Holding it in front of her, she ran towards the dark members, than hooking her left hand's second finger onto the circle hook at the very end of the handle. Throwing the scythe, the finger stayed with the hook and the scythe was hurling at the enemy with great speed while she ran as chains came out of the end of the weapon. All four of them were amazed.

She used her magic power to force the chains back into the blade so she could be pulled to her blade and the enemy. She grabbed the handle in mid-air right in front of the members, and with one slash, taking out all of the members but the master. The slashes left the member with a long bloody wound on their chest.

The master was raising his eyebrow. He stood there with a smile. "Impressive, but I am the chal-"

"Leave this town." She was now right behind him, holding the curved blade to his neck _._ She said it with a dark tone. _That speed, everyone thought._ Ezra and the others jumped back at the tone used. "Or suffer."

"Well, really. What a-" She held out two fingers and stabbed him in the right hip, making his legs harder to move, and bringing him pain. He screamed and she dropped him to the ground.

"If you and your little guild are still here in two days," she said, darkly, "then I will bring you nothing, but suffering. The master lied there, wide-eyed. How was he defeated so easily.

She pointed to the healing bubble and popped it because all of the wounds were healed. She was leaving through the broken door before Natsu quickly got up and grabbed the arm of the assassin.

"Who are you and why do I recognize your scent? Remove your hood." Natsu demanded. The person just stood there, saying nothing. He sniffed again, making sure.

"Natsu. Calm down. That person helped us." Grey said, standing up. Natsu forcefully turned around the person and remove the hood. Everyone was shocked. They were all staring at the person in front of their eyes.

"Lucy…" Tears ran down Lucy and Natsu's faces. Her face was red from crying while Grey and Erza could do nothing but stare.


	2. Chapter 2: Coming Home

**Credit: ElementalMiko12**

 **I got all of my ideas from reading "Remembering our Fairy Tail."**

 **ORIGINAL POV**

"Lucy…" everyone stood there starstruck. Lisanna looked off into the distance, confused and angry of all the attention she was getting.

"Hey Natsu…" she mumbled with a smile. Tears lightly flowed down her face, onto the edge of her chin. His hands still on her shoulders.

"Lucy!" Natsu cried. He removed his hand from her shoulder to give Lucy a hug. She stepped back because the force of the impact. Lucy hugged him back.

"Lucy? Is that you?" Erza ask, surprised. Three teardrops dripped out of the edge of her eye. Erza covered her mouth, ran over to them, and gave them a hug, one that was meant for Lucy. "I'm glad you're back with us," Erza murmured, while hugging Lucy and Natsu. Her right arm rested on Natsu's arched back while her left was around Lucy's shoulder and her hands gripped Lucy's other shoulder. "I'm very surprised and very proud of you, Lucy." Erza said, with a smile. "You took down the guild so easily while we were easily defeated." Gray still stood like a frozen tree. Staring at the person in front of him. Lucy looked at Gray and smiled.

"Hi, Gray."

"Lucy…" Gray came over to Lucy's left side and put his hand on the opposite side of her head, slowly pushing her head to his naked chest. Her head was in a crooked and uncomfortable position because Natsu and Erza wouldn't let her shift, but she didn't care. Gray couldn't contain the tears that he cried.

"We missed you, Lucy!" Gray exclaimed, hiccuping and crying. He chest quickly popped up and down, trying to catch a breath. She felt his wet tears dropping down to the hairs on her head.

"I missed all of you!" she exclaimed with a smile. _Did everyone miss me when I was gone?_

"Hey, Lucy!" Lisanna exclaimed with a smile. Lucy shot up. She didn't realize that Lisanna was standing there. _That smile is so fake. Wondered what happened._

"Hey Lisanna." Everyone pulled away except for Natsu; he was still crying on her chest.

"Natsu…" Lucy mumbled. She ran her fingers through his light pink hair. He pulled back his hug and grinned. She returned his grin with a smile. He chuckled and took her hand adding a squeeze indicating I'm glad you're here. _They're so soft_ , he thought.

"Let's go back to Fairy Tail, Lucy," he grinned even brighter; heat rushed out of his hand into hers. Her smile slowly faded and turned her head away from Natsu. Natsu lost his smiling feature.

"I can't Natsu. I can't go back to the guild." All of the smiles ran off of everyone's faces. Lisanna had a slight grin, but no one has noticed.

"Why?" Natsu despaired. Instead of crying tears of happiness, he began to cry tears of sorrow. "Why?! We just saw each other for the first time in two years, and you're leaving again?" Lucy dropped to the floor, sitting on her knees while Natsu cried in her lap. She ran her hand through his hair. Erza and Gray were still confused.

"We'll let you two settle this, Lucy." Erza said, looking down at her and laying a hand on her shoulder, and walked through the door with Gray and Lisanna.

"I'm sorry Natsu, but you really wouldn't understand." Natsu had his face to her thighs, not looking her in the eye.

"Lu-" A bright light appear and Loki had an angry face.

"Loki!" Lucy was surprised that he forced his gate to open.

"Princess. I can't watch up mope around anymore. You're always so down in the dumps now. You don't smile anymore!" Loki was furious with her. "Go back to Fairy Tail. A couple of days ago, you were crying because you wanted to go back!" Natsu sat up wide-eyed, watching them have their argument.

"You know I can't!" Tears formed at the edge of her eyes. "You know I can't…" she mumbled.

"Lucy, please. All of your spirits are upset because you're torturing yourself." Loki was crying, something Natsu never witnessed. "Please," he cried desperately. "Just let me talk to him. Lucy, please!" Loki had tears flowing down his cheek. He forgot Natsu was still there, angry and confused.

"What happened to Lucy?!" Natsu yelled at Loki. Angry sparked in his eyes; his fist were burning with rage. _Did someone hurt her? I'm gonna make sure that dude doesn't see tomorrow._

"Nine months ago-" Loki begun.

"Loki. Please don't…" Lucy uttered. She forced those words to come on, embarrassed by what she had done. Loki looked at her and took another deep breath and began to speak.

"Lucy join with the Magic Council."

"What's wrong with that…?" Natsu asked, worrying about Lucy.

Natsu was confused. Was that the thing she worried about? "

"The Magic Council heard that there were multiple dark guilds that were somewhat related to Zeref. The rumor was that were 12 guilds and each one got their hands on powerful demons that Zeref created. The Magic Council decided to put Lucy on the job."

"I'm still confused." Natsu said, scratching his head.

"I'll start from the beginning, sort of. First, they put her in an execution crew. The execution crew needed a new member because one of them died due to a sickness. The crew goes around the entire kingdom and take down certain people that are on the Magic Council's wanted list. However, she had to agree to one single term,"

"And what was that?" Natsu asked, crossing his arms. Erza, Gray, and Lisanna became interested in the conversation. Loki took another breath and looked at Lucy, who was looking away.

"She would become property of the Magic Council. Her rights as a human being will be striped away, throwing away her future." Everyone stood there shock, confused on why she would do that.

"Lucy, why would you do that?" Erza walked toward Lucy, bent down, and put a hand on her shoulder.

"I had to. I visited so many towns that were being ripped apart. The dark guilds were using the innocent citizens as blood sacrifices to try to break the seals on the books. I asked every single town if they wanted me to help them, but they said no. They all wanted to be sacrifices for Zeref. Don't you think that's strange? Every single one of those guilds were using some type of control magic, but I couldn't figure out exactly what spell it was."

"So you agreed to the term so you could help them." Gray said.

"Yeah. The council knew what the spell was, but it was classified information. Only members of the council knew about it, so that's why I decided to join. And that was when they decided to put me in the Execution Crew. But it wasn't a job I could handle, because you usually kill the target, so that's when I asked if I could take down dark guilds. I was surprised that they even agreed to it, but that term still had to be met."

"And that's how you were known as the Black Assassin." Lucy grunted at that name.

"How did you know that?" Ezra felt pretty clever figuring that out.

"From the story you told was similar to the one I read in Sorcerer Weekly."

"Oh." She was too ashamed to look at her friends.

"Anyway. Lucy, give me your communication lacrima." Loki demanded, holding out his hand. Lucy grabbed her bag that was hanging at her side and gave Loki the green orb. "Now Princess. Please go back with them to the guild."

"Loki…" She knew she can't change the spirit's mind. "If he agrees, tell him that if he needs a guild taken down, tell me, and I'll do it.

"Alright, Princess. When I'm done, I'll return the orb." Lucy looked at her feet and smiled.

"Thanks Loki."

"No prob. If it's for your sake, I'll definitely do it for you." Lucy came over to Loki and embraced him while a few tears escaped her eyes. Loki wiped them off her face. "No prob," he repeated, smiling. "You guys need to get going. Four hour train ride, right?"

"I guess we should go." Gray said, putting an arm around Lucy's shoulders and smiled.

"Let's go!" Natsu yelled, putting an arm around Lucy's other should. Gray was to her left while Natsu was to her right. Lucy put her right arm over Natsu's shoulder and her left over Gray's.

"Alright. Carry me to the train." She laughed as she lifted her feet off the ground.

"Wow. Lucy you got a lot lighter," Natsu burst out. Lucy turned her head with an angry face.

"What's that suppose to mean?" she hissed. Natsu was now afraid, realizing what he had said.

"Umm...umm... I-I didn't mean that you were fa-at, just that you lost weight." Natsu stuttered. Her angry face turned into a laugh paradise.

"Yeah, I know. Capricorn made me go on a super strict diet." she laughed.

"What should we do about the reward money?" Erza asked, remembering the mission they were sent on.

"Oh, I totally forgot about the money," Gray replied, scratching his head.

"Eh, who cares? We got Lucy back!"

"I'll write the mayor a letter about sending it to the guild…" Erza said. They entered the train and sat down. The cart they sat in was almost deserted.

 **ORIGINAL POV(An hour later)**

"Ughhh...my stomach is about to fall out." Both of his cheek were puffed and Natsu was slumped in his seat. Natsu, Lucy, and Gray were sitting across from Erza and Lisanna, who were both sleeping peacefully.

"Would you shut up fire-princess?! I'm trying to sleep." Gray complained. Natsu couldn't insult Gray back because of his weakness.

"Gray why don't you move over to Erza and Lisanna. Natsu will probably feel better if he lays down."

"Alright. If that means I don't have to deal with his moaning." Gray groaned as he got up and sat next to Erza and closed his eyes.

"Natsu, come here. Lay your head on my lap." Lucy moved over toward the window so Natsu can lay down his whole body on the long train seat. Natsu rested the back of his head on her lap and stretched his body along the lengthy seat.

"Thanks, Lucy." he thanked, trying his best not to get his cheek popping out of his face.

"Of course, Natsu. Get some rest. I'll wake everyone up once we get to the stop." He watched her look out the window, gazing upon the horizon. It was around 3:45, and the sun shined brightly in the sky. Natsu was studying her face as she was gazing off out the window. He didn't feel as sick as he did a few minutes ago. He watched her gazed out of the window for a long time. After a while, she slowly turned back into reality, turning away from the window and gave a big huff. She noticed out of the corner of her eye, Natsu was staring at her, tilting his head back. She turned to Natsu and smiled. He looked the other direction and blushed. _I hope she didn't see me staring at her._ She ran her hand through his pinkish hair, playing with his bristles, needing another distraction from the long train ride.

"Lucy...you know I don't like that." he whined, wiggling around to indicate that he wanted her to stop. She placed her hand on his cheek and whispered,

"Too bad!" she smiled at him, lightly touching his nose. His cheek turned a slight rose color and she began to play with his bristles again. He stared back at her, observing her hair and the curves of her face. He got a little closer to her stomach and sniff. "What are you doing?" she asked while moving back a little.

"Strawberry-vanilla…" he mumbled.

"Huh?" she whispered. She slightly raised her eyebrow.

"You haven't put on a lot of lotion or perfume in a while…" he mumbled again.

"Oh. Since I was traveling around, I didn't really have time to put on all that stuff." Her face turned slightly red and she looked away..

"Can you stay like this? I like your normal scent." he whispered turning his body inward so his full face was facing her stomach. He didn't notice that the tip of his nose was touching her stomach. "I really like this scent," he said gently.

"Sure. I'll keep my scent like this for you," she chuckled, playing with his hair again. "You should rest. We have about two more hours."

"I don't want to. Talking to you would be more fun," he yawned.

"Ok. What do you want to talk about, sleepyhead?" There was a slight pause.

"What you wrote in the letter for me," she realized what he was talking about,"You said you love me…" he mumbled. "Is it true?" Her face was turning a bright red.

"Um…" He looked up at her. Her face is really red. "I didn't lie about anything…in the letter..." she whispered, turning away from embarrassment. He grinned at her. I love you too, Lucy.

"Ok." he replied. Natsu moved his arm around Lucy's waist and fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3: Taken From Me

**Credit:** **ElementalMiko12**

 **Chapter 3**

 **ORIGINAL POV**

"You guys kept my apartment?" Lucy asked with a smile. She turned to Erza.

"We kind of did." Erza replied. Lucy was walking around her empty apartment.

"The rent was sort of hard to keep up with, so we talked to the landlady and she said she'll reserved the apartment until you get back, but she wasn't able to keep all of you furniture," Gray sighed.

"Ehh. I doesn't matter," Lucy beamed, "I can move my stuff from my other apartment to this place."

"You got another place?" Natsu asked, surprised.

"That's the quirks of being a valuable member of the Magic Council. They pay for the rent and I pay for the other stuff," Lucy sang. "I'll just call them tomorrow and ask them if they can move my stuff over to here," she yawned, stretching her arms up in the air.

"It is getting late," Erza said, covering her mouth. "Let's surprise the guild tomorrow. People already went home and Wendy and the others aren't done with their mission."

"Alright. Do you guys want to stay over for the night?" Lucy asked, still walking around her bare apartment. The only furniture was the bed, breakfast table, and the couch.

"I actually have to clean up my apartment. I haven't done laundry in a while so I have to get that done."

"I can't either." Gray mumbled. "I was gonna visit Ur's grave today…" Gray mumbled. Lucy looked at him, with pity in her eyes.

"Ok." She looked at Gray. _I think it's best if I don't say anything._

"I'll come over tomorrow. Good night," Erza said, leaving the apartment.

"Yeah. I'll come over tomorrow, too." Gray sighed and left the apartment, leaving just Lucy and Natsu.

"Natsu. Do you want to stay over?" she grinned. Natsu smiled with her. _That smile is so beautiful._

"Yeah. But I'm gonna get Happy first. I'll feel bad when he comes home and I'm not there."

"Ok. I'll leave the window open for you two, ok?" she chuckled, remembering all the nights Natsu spent at her house.

"Ok. I'll be back in a couple of hours." Natsu grinned and gave her a hug. "I'm really glad you're back with us," he whispered in her ear.

"Me too." He dug his nose in her hair, remembering her sweet scent; she blush. _He's so warm._ She could tell that he didn't want to break the hug. She traced her fingers along his back, feeling the the relaxed, curved muscles moving up and down each time he took a breath. She moved her fingers, outlining his backbone, feeling a small bump that stuck out of his back. He hissed.

"Sorry. You ran your fingers over a bruise," he apologized. He lightly followed the lining of her bra. He made a straight line down her back, stopping at her waist. She her face slowly turned red; a rush of embarrassment flowed through her body. _Cute! I can feel her body temperature rising._ He moved his hand up her back, and her muscles relaxed.

"How did you get it?" she whispered, running her fingers through his hair.

"Erza punched me for accidentally making her drop her her strawberry cake." She chuckled. "You should go get Happy, so he doesn't get worried," she said, pulling away.

"Alright, Luce. I promise I'll come back."

"You say it like I'm gonna leave again," she admitted.

"I don't want to leave you right now…" he whispered, resting his head on her shoulders.

"Natsu, you worry way too much about my well-being, silly. Do you want me to come with you?" _I feel like he's gonna get nightmares if I don't go with him._ He looked up at her; his pouty face washed away, leaving his big smile, but turned into a concerned look.

"What about surprising the guild?" he worried.

"I can be a ninja!" she joked, putting her hood on. He smiled.

"Alright, let's go!" He ran and jumped out the window.

"Are you crazy?! Are you asking for death?!" she yelled, running to the window.

"You're the one that's crazy. Come on! Jump!" he grinned and she rolled her eyes. _You still have your weird habits._

"Fine." She jumped out of the window and landed on both of her feet.

"You wanna race to the guild hall?" He took her hand.

"Wait...you don't need to take my hand when we're racing…" she said suspiciously, eyeing him.

"Not the way I do it." He blasted off. Lucy couldn't keep up with him because she didn't have her balance on her side.

"Natsu, slow down!" she yelled, trying to put her feet on the ground.

"Not until get get to the guild!" he smiled and kept running. She returned the smile. Within minutes, they were already at the front of the guild hall. The doors were closed, but they could hear a loud rustling inside. Natsu opened the door to the guild and yelled,"HAPPY? ARE YOU HERE?"

"What the hell?! Natsu quiet down." Macao exclaimed. Leaning back and stretching his arms, "Who's that?" he asked pointing to the mysterious dark figure next to Natsu.

"Um...did Happy get back with his mis-"

"What's that smell?" someone said, walking around the guild, eyes close so she could focus on the scent. It was Wendy. _She got taller. She's growing up so much._

"Huh?" Macao was confused. He began stroking his mustache.

"It's ok. Doesn't matter now, I guess." Erza said, walking in and yawning. She leaned against the bar counter while everyone in the guild hall had a confusing aspect. Wendy was still sniffing the scent. She was frustrated and wrinkles formed on her forehead because she smelled it before, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"Uhh…do we have a new member or something? I'm confused." Warren asked, scratching the back of his head. Everyone watched as the dark figure remove the hood while Happy was walking out of the back door.

"What all the noise? I was dreaming about fish!" he said, with his eye thirsting for more of the delicious treat. The dark figure paused and had a slight smile. Happy noticed a strand of blonde hair.

"Blonde hair...Lucy…" he mumbled and waited for the dark figure to reveal the face that was hidden. The hidden figure totally removed the hood. Everyone stood still, leaving their mouth wide-open.

"What the-"

"She's back!"

"Whoohooo!"

"Alright!" they yelled, pumping their fist in the air.

"Lucy!" Happy's wings appeared and he quickly flew towards her. He stuffed his face in her breast, making them slightly jiggle.

"Hey there buddy." she whispered, letting out tears. She moved her arms up out of her cloak so she could hug her feline friend.

"Lucy!" Happy was bursting into tears. Everyone quickly gathered around her to congratulate her on her return.

"Finally! You came back!" Wendy said, running towards her and giving her a big hug with Happy.

"Hey there Wendy! You gotten so big, sis."

"Yeah!" She pulled back and had the biggest grin on her face.

"Guys, quiet down. You're gonna wake up the people sleeping upstairs," Lucy yawned and added, "The original plan was to come tomorrow because I wanted to surprise everyone when they were at the guild, but I wanted to help Natsu find Happy." She yawned, stretching her arms above her head.

"Ok. Then let's pretend that we never saw each other," Warren added. _She's still hot._

"We can hear you dumbass!" Max and Jab yelled in a unison. Everyone started to join in on the fight.

"Opps." Everyone begun acting like they never saw her, getting back the useless fights.

"Hey Happy?" Lucy whispered so no one could hear them.

"Yeah?" he replied, still hugging her.

"Do you want to go sleep with me and Natsu back at my place?"

"Aye!"

"Natsu!" Lucy yelled.

"Hm?"

"Let's go. I'm tired"

"Alright." The three of them slipped away quietly so no one would notice and ran down the street. Happy glided in the air, happy because Lucy was here. The moon was covered by clouds, dimming the light that shined down on the town.

"It's so cold…" Lucy whispered as she ran along side them.

"It's alright. I'll warm you up when we get back!" Natsu said with excitement.

"I don't know if I trust you," she chuckled and rolled her eyes.

"What there not to trust?" He smiled at her while they ran.

"You and fire."

"I have you know I work well with fire."

"Yeah...you and fire do a great job of destroying things."

"Whatever Lucy." They slowed down as they reached her apartment. Natsu jumped and the balcony and jumped through her open window. "Come on guys!" he yelled, gesturing them to come in.

"Let's go, Happy!"

"I'll carry you up, Lucy!" Happy grabbed the hood and pull her up to the window.

"Thanks, Happy!" Lucy thanked him by scratching the top of his head.

"No prob!" Natsu, who was already asleep, snored loudly, as he has already begun to adapt to the new bed.

"You're still the same, huh?" Lucy walked over to the bed where Natsu slept peacefully and laid beside him. He slept on his side with his broad shoulders with his muscular back facing her. She wrapped her arms around his waist, feeling his relaxed abs. Her forehead touched his back. _He's so warm._ Lucy didn't want to bother him by getting under the sheets because she would have to shift him over so she chose him to be her place for warmth.

"You loooooove him," Happy whispered to her, as he laid down above Natsu's head.

"Shut it, cat!" she shot back, laughing at the same time. Happy was already reaching over to dreamland by the time she replied.

Natsu shifted, turning his whole body to face Lucy, then put an arm around Lucy's waist, pulling her closer towards him. _He's doing this unconsciously, she thought._ She blushed as he ran his hand down her back then under her shirt. He ran his hand up and down with the curve of her hip as her face turned even more red. _Does he know he's doing this?_ She smiled and rest her head under his chin and put her hand on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. Her breasts were pressing the bottom of his ribcage and she could feel it moving as he took his breaths.

He murmured something about food she couldn't catch. _Always thinking about food, huh?_. She fell asleep in his arms, smiling.

 **NATSU POV**

Natsu opened his eyes, feeling cold air rush in through the window. He looked around the room and noticed it was still the middle of the night. He was about to get up and get some food when he noticed his arms were around Lucy. She was rested against him, with her head and a hand on his chest. He deeply blushed and noticed that his legs were tangled with hers and smiled. "I love you, Lucy," he whispered quietly and kissed her forehead. He closed his and went into his dreamland.

 **ORIGINAL POV**

Lucy woke up, wondering why she was so warm. She look in front of her as saw someone's chest up against her. "Lucy kick!" The person fell right off her bed by the force of the impact.

"OW! What was there for?" Natsu moaned, as he landed on his back. Lucy hadn't realized that the person was Natsu rushed toward the edge of the bed and looked toward the ground.

"Natsu, are you ok? I'm sorry. I forgot that you were sleeping here," she apologized, blushing deeply as she spoke those words. Natsu grinned.

"It's alright," he said. He took her arm and pulled off the bed, and she landed on top of him. She immediately turned red, while looking deep into his eyes. Natsu blushed as he notice her eyes looking at him. Lucy quickly stood up, still blushing from the moment.

"You liiiiiiiiiiike her," Happy giggled, looking at the two of them.

"Shut up, Happy!" Natsu shot back, getting up and trying to cover the feline's mouth. Happy immediately summoned forth his wings and flew to Lucy, landing on her head.

"You liiiiiiiiiiiike her," Happy giggled, covering his mouth with mischievous eyes.

"Happy!" Natsu was about to grab that little feline. Lucy giggled at the sight of her two friends.

"Come on, you two. Let's go to the guild." She interrupted their little fight, and placed two fingers on Natsu's forehead. "Let's go, Natsu!" she encouraged, smiling at him. He smiled back at Lucy.

"Ok!" Happy was still giggling at the sight of his two friends. They all jumped out of the window and raced toward the guild hall. "I'm gonna win this race, Lucy!" Natsu smiled at her.

"No you're not!" Lucy smiled back. In the shadows, a man with two bodyguards smiled.

"We finally found her," he laughed, softly. "Lucky Lucy Heartfilia."

"I win!" Natsu pumped his fist in the air. Lucy was panting behind him, with her hands on her knees.

"Next time, you'll lose," she said with a smile.

"Maybe or maybe not."

"Ugh, you guys left me to fend for myself!" Happy sobbed, flying towards his friends

"I'm sorry, Happy," Lucy said, holding out her arms. Happy flew right into them, pretending to cry. Lucy giggled and tickled the top of Happy's head, making him purr. Natsu opened the door to the guild hall.

"WASSUP!" Lucy was startled. She looked at her guild members, as they stared at the sight.

"LUCY!" they yelled in unison. Levy was the first to come running into her arms.

"Lucy! You're back! Where have you been?" Levy pulled back and smiled, with tears flowing down her cheeks.

"Training." Lucy smiled and gave her friend another hug. "I've missed you, Levy!" Lucy had tear droplets forming at the edge of her eyes. Everyone stood up and ran to Lucy, wanting to welcome her back. Levy pulled away and turned toward the crowd.

"I'm her best friend, that means I get her first. Wait right here Lucy! I want to show you something!" Levy ran to go get something while Lucy was confused. "Lucy!" Levy came back running with a stack of papers. "I finished you no-" Levy ran into an invisible wall. "Ow!" Lucy came rushing to her aid.

"Levy! Are you-" Lucy ran into the wall as well. She stuck out her hand, feeling the air. "An invisible wall…" she mumbled.

"Well, well." Lucy recognized that voice and turned around slowly, wide-eyed. Everyone was shocked and confused. "Lucky Lucy Heartfilia." A man walked in the guild hall, with an evil smile. He was a handsome man that had black hair, wearing a black tux. Two tall men stood behind him, guarding their master. She was shocked when she notice the intense resemblance.

"Duke! What is this nonsense?" she demanded. Rage flowed through her veins. She gave him a death stare, telling him to undo the wall.

"No need to get hasty. Take her magic so she won't do anything." The men took out two lacrima out of their suits and begun sucking out her magic power. Her legs were weak, and she had one knee to the ground with one foot on the ground, exhausted.

"Lucy! Let her go!" Natsu punched the wall with all of his might, hoping it would crack, but it didn't budge.

"Amusing," he chuckled. "Well my bride, shall we get going?"

"Oh!" she panted. "So that is what's this is about, huh?" She slowly stood up, using all of her strength. "I'm not going with you, Duke!" He smiled, holding his hand up. She froze.

"LET HER GO!" Natsu kept on punching the wall with his iron fist but he was ignored.

"What is this? Undo your spell!" she yelled at Duke.

"Lucy!" everyone was trying to grasp the situation. They just got her back, and now someone was trying to take her from them? They watched in horror as Duke came over to her frozen body and touched her chin.

"You're finally mine! I've always wanted to be with you Lucy, ever since we were kid. Remember the crush we had on each other? Our families wanted us to be wed!" he whispered in her ear. Everyone was listening to what he was saying. "But your father ruined it! Changing his stupid mind, and wanting you to marry that stupid prince! But now, the Kingston and Heartfilia families, two of the most powerful families, will now be joined together as one. Now that the stupid one man is dead, I can take you for myself," he said, loudly. Natsu was shocked at what he heard. _Lucy's mine! She belongs to no one but me!_

"GET YOUR DIRTY HANDS OFF OF HER!" Lucy looked his his direction. He repeatedly punched the invisible wall, trying to bring it down, but it still won't budge. Duke smiled, wanting to annoy Natsu more. He grabbed Lucy's face as she flinched, trying to get away from his touch, but her body won't move. He ran his tongue up and down her cheek.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER!" The guild begun attacking the invisible wall, trying to break it and recuse Lucy. Mira turned into her satan soul and threw dark magic trying to break the wall, separating them from Lucy. Duke begun to put his hand on her hips and kissed her, sticking his tongue in her mouth. She whimpered, tightly shutting her eyes and trying to push him out of her mouth. _That kiss was suppose to be mine!_

"STOP ITTT!" Natsu broke through the wall and ran straight towards Duke, but he disappeared leaving nothing behind. "DAMN IT!" Natsu was covered in flames of anger. Everyone was furious at what they witnessed.

"He took Lucy...AND WE JUST GOT HER BACK!" Erza yelled, destroying a wooden pillar. Natsu ran off, trying to find the scent of the man that took Lucy, finding nothing.


	4. Chapter 4: Replacement

Credit: ElementalMiko12 I loved the story that ElementalMiko12 wrote, so I wanted to continue it. I added my own plot, and used some their ideas for the story. This chapter is kind of boring, so just bare with me!

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 **NATSU POV**

Natsu ran around the whole town, trying to find Lucy's scent, but he couldn't get a whiff of it. "Damn it!" he yelled, punching the ground. Erza, Grey, and Happy caught up to Natsu, who was fallen on the ground. She laid a hand on his shoulder.

"We will get her back, Natsu," she said. "We already know where he is."

"And where's that?" Natsu mumbled.

"I can't tell you that because I already know what you're gonna do. You're not going anywhere until we make a plan, am I clear?" She gave him the death stare. He jumped back, startled from the stare. "We will make a plan as soon as master comes back from his meeting." Natsu was furious at Erza for not taking immediate action.

"Why can't we get her now?" he shot back, wearing an angry expression.

"We don't even know what we're are up against?! Did you see how he easily took down Lucy?!" Natsu flinched. "I want her back as much as you do, but if we rush into things, we will easily be defeated and won't be able to rescue her." She was right. I can't take down all of those people myself.

"Erza's right, Natsu. We need a plan before attacking," Grey murmured. Natsu silently walked back to the guild hall, thinking about what he was gonna do to Duke once he found him.

 **LUCY POV**

"Lay her down right here. That sleeping spell should be undone soon." He watched as the two bodyguards carefully put her sleeping body on the bed. "Leave. Enjoy the rest of the day." he instructed, waving his hand. He waited for the men to leave and turned to Lucy. She blinked a few times and he smiled, looking at her beautiful face. Her vision was blurry, unable to see a thing.

"Natsu?" she asked. "Gray?" She waited for the blurry figure to speak, but she heard nothing. Her eyes were coming into focus; the blur begun to disappear, and she immediately shot back to the other side of the bed, getting far away from Duke as she possible could.

"My, my. You've finally awoken from your deep slumber," he said, clapping. She growled.

"Why the hell am I here?" She gave him a face of rage.

"Didn't I tell you?" He forcefully took her shoulders, and pushed her down to the bed, having each of his legs tucked to her sides, and he sat on her belly. She tried to escape, but she was pinned to the bed. He leaned towards her ear, "We shall be wed. You shall be my wife, and my new toy, Lucy." he whispered, seductively. _What the hell? Is he trying to seduce me?_

"Get off of me!" Lucy tried to set herself free, but she was still pinned to the bed.

"You move to much." He waved his fingers and her muscles couldn't move. _Manipulation Magic._ He moved his quivering lips to her neck and started to suck her skin.

"Stop…" she begged. Lucy couldn't move a muscle; she couldn't stop him. "Stop!" she cried. He lifted up her shirt, only to reveal her stomach. He waved his fingers and her mouth was sealed shut. He moved from her neck to her stomach, kissing her bare skin. _I am gonna kill this dude._ He grabbed her hips, feeling the curve. He put he hands on her lower back and pushed up, making her back arch. The licked her stomach like it was some kind of candy.

"Well, I have to get going, my love." He removed his body from hers, but keeping a close distance between their faces. "The real fun will begin tonight," he whispered in her ear, waving his fingers to undo his magic. After his magic dispelled, she immediately had a disgusted look on her face. She tried to make her magic power flow from her chest to her arms, but her sensed that she had no magic power. _This room must be blocking it._ "Don't try." She shot up. "This room is blocking your source of magic power. You couldn't use magic even if you wanted to," he smirked. He walked out the room and closed the door behind him. _That little dick! How was I able to get be captured so easily?_

Lucy looked around the room because she never got the chance. There was an open door that lead to a bathroom, a dresser, and a bookshelf filled with books. "I need to figure out an escape route…" she mumbled. There was no window in her room. _This place is taking my strength, too. How am I gonna get out?_ She walked over to the bathroom and noticed there was no window in there either. She sighed. _He took so many extra measures._ She punched the wall next to her. "Ow…" She shook her hand, trying the make the pain go away. "I didn't even make a dent."

She walked out of the bathroom and had an idea. She grabbed everything she could get her hands on and threw it at a wall, hoping that it will break through, leading her outside. But not a single dent was made. "Ughh, I need to get out!" she yelled, desperately. "I want to see Natsu…" she murmured.

Later at night, Duke came back in the room. She gave him a disgusted look while he walked over to her. Let's go, my love.

"Where are we going, Duke?" she said, exaggerating the 'k'.

"You'll see soon enough, my love." He grabbed her wrist tightly and forcefully made her follow. She saw that he had a black suitcase that he was clutching close to him. He was tugging on her wrist so hard that she was falling over, but he kept on pulling on her. He lead her to a metal door down the her and stopped. He opened the door and a rush of cold air blew at her face, leaving goosebumps on her arms. He walked down a narrow pathway, leading them to multiple cells. _Where are we doing here?_ She looked in all of them, expecting people to be locked up in the cells, but all of them were unoccupied. They both stopped at a cell; she noticed that a little girl, maybe around 13 or 14 in the corner, shaking with her knees to her chest and her arms wrapped around them.

"What is this, Duke?!," Lucy yelled, furiously. "You locked up a little girl?!" She grabbed his shirt and snarled right in his face. He ignored her threat and open the door to the cell. Lucy thought that he was going to let the little girl out of the cold and damp cell, but instead pushed he pushed Lucy in, making her stumbled toward the ground. She put her hands in front of her to stop herself from landing on her face. She moaned from lightly scraping her hands on the concrete. Lucy looked at the little girl in the corner, trembling in fear or from the cold cell.

"I will be back," he said with a straight face, and left. Lucy looked back at the little girl, who was trying to stay warm.

"Hey. It's ok," Lucy said gently, trying the calm the girl. Lucy sat next the the girl, leaning against the wall behind them. The girl had long, dark blue hair like Wendy's and her eyes were light blue. She had tears flowing down her cheeks, but she didn't make any noise while crying. Lucy put an arm around the girl's shoulder, trying to calm the trembling girl. Lucy gently pulled the little girl closer to her. Her golden locks mixed with the blue hair as she leaned in. To Lucy's surprise, she didn't even show any signs of pulling away. Instead, she wrapped her arms around Lucy's waist, pulling her tiny body closer to Lucy. She completely broke down and Lucy stroked her long hair. "What's your name?" Lucy asked, gently. "You don't have tell me if you don't want to. My name is Lucy," she added.

"My na-ame is Terri," she replied, hiccuping. _Someone as young as she is, shouldn't be going through this._ Lucy started looking around the cell, trying to look for anything odd. Everything thing was pitch black. The only light they had was a lit torch, hanging on a wall out of the cell. Lucy smelled the moist air, as water dripped from the ceiling onto the floor. Lucy heard Terri whimper, as she calmed down from her earlier break down.

"Is it ok if I ask why are you here?" Terri gripped Lucy's shirt a little more, hesitating to tell her."

"I don't know…" she mumbled. "He slaughtered my family, along with my entire village." Tears formed at the edge of her eyes. Lucy snarled.

"That bastard," she howled.

"Only me and my brother were allowed to live." Lucy flinched a little. _Where is her brother?_

"If you're wondering, I got my brother to escape this place, but I wasn't able to go with him…" she murmured.

"How old is he?" Terri began to take a deep breath.

"He's nine..." she mumbled.

"What's his name?" Lucy asked, looking around the cell.

"His name is Sam." Lucy smiled at that name.

"That's a cute name." Terri smiled as well.

"Yeah…" she mumbled in replied. Lucy kept on looking around the room. There was was a stone square that wasn't glued to the others. There was a small gap surrounding it. _What the?_ She looked up at the ceiling, squinting her eyes, and noticed a larger stone square.

"Hey Ter-" She saw Terri resting on her shoulder. Lucy grinned and decided to rest as well.

 **NATSU POV**

"Gramps! You finally back! Alright! Erza let's get this show on the road!"

"NATSU!" She gave him the death. "We need to inform Master. You are not to leave until we do!" He felt her dark aura circling around him, preparing to attack.

"Yes ma'am!" he gulped.

"Lucy has been taken?..." he said, hesitantly, hoping for his question to be wrong.

"It seems you already know Master." Erza replied.

"Well, the meeting I had with the Magic Council were mostly about Duke's whereabouts. They figured out that he was trying to break a seal on a demon from the Book of Zeref a couple of days ago. They couldn't pinpoint him until they figured out that he bought the Heartfilia estate a couple of weeks ago. I doubt he even knows the Magic Council was onto him."

"That's crazy! Why in hell would he want to revive a demon from the book of Zeref?!" Gray yelled, remembering the sight he witness when he was a younger boy.

"I don't know my boy, but we must stop him and rescue Lucy! The three of you are on the rescue mission!"

"Right!" Natsu pumped his fist in the air. Natsu sprinted out the door, but Master enlarged his fist and slammed it in Natsu's back, making him fall to the floor.

"Ow! What the hell?" he growled at Master.

"I need to tell you something. The train tracks that lead to the estate has been damaged and they are repairing them. It will take days to repair. You'll have to go on foot."

"What?! Going on foot will take days!" Natsu shot back at Master.

"Than you, Erza, and Gray better leave now!"

"Yes, sir!" Erza and Gray yelled in unison.

"Let's go!" Natsu rushed out the door, followed by Gray and Erza.

Later in the evening, Natsu and the others were looking for an inn to sleep in for the night. "Alright, I'm tired," Gray yawned, stretching his arms.

"Me too," Natsu agreed. Erza was still searching for an inn.

"Ahh! Here we go," Erza said, proudly. "Finally, I found an inn. They stopped in front of a four story building.

"I need some sleep time," Gray said.

"We all do," Erza said, walking in. A man stood in front of the counter, counting jewel.

"We would like a room, sir, for one night." Erza said to the man. He looked at the rack of dangling keys in front of him. Then, he snatched a key off its hook.

"That will be 10,000 jewel," he said putting the key on the counter. Erza handled him 20 coins and took the key.

"Thank you, sir. Have a good evening."

"Thank you. You have a kind evening as well." He nodded his head as she walked up the flight of stairs, being followed by Natsu and Gray. "Alright, here is our room."

"Finally!" Gray walked in the room and fell on one of the beds. The room had one bathroom and two beds. Nothing too fancy; the room was simple.

"Let's get some rest, so we can wake up early in the morning."

"Agree!" Natsu said, flopping down right next to Gray. The boys knew they had to sleep together and Erza had her own bed.

"Requip!" Erza changed from her armor suit and blue skirt to white pajamas with pink stripes.

"Goodnight you two."

` "Night Erza."

"Night." After a few minutes, Gray and Erza were fast asleep. Natsu put both of his hands behind his head and looked up at the ceiling. "We're coming Lucy…" he murmured, tiredly. He heard a scream in his head, but before he could figure out what it was, he was already fast asleep.

 **LUCY POV**

Lucy woke up from her nap, yawning and looked at the little girl next to her, still in dreamland. "Oh finally. I thought you'd never walk up, my love." Lucy shot up, angry at the voice.

"What do you want?" she demanded. She watched him open the cell door, walking over toward them, and bending down. His face was right above her's; his lips were hovering over her's. Lucy gripped her cloak tightly, in case if he were to lean closer. She saw his arm slowly reaching towards Terri.

"I need the girl. She needs her weekly punishment," he smirked. Lucy pushed his hand away, keeping her arm in front of Terri's sleeping body.

"You stay away from her!" she growled. Terri's eyes were fluttering open. She saw Lucy's arm in front of her and Duke bending down, with his face close to Lucy.

"Ah. So she has waken up as well." He reached for Terri again, but Lucy pushed his arm away again.

"I said stay away from her!" Lucy repeated. Duke smirked.

"It's her punishment day. That girl's been very naughty, so she needs to be taught a lesson weekly. You can't stop me! I enjoy hearing screams." He laughed an evil laugh and his grinned was murderous.

"Don't you dare lay a finger her!" she growled back. Terri was shocked. _Why would a stranger try to protect her?_

"Oh love. There's nothing you can do, but watch." He grabbed the bottom of her chin and she flinched. She growled back at him.

"Fine! Instead of torturing a little girl do it to me instead," Lucy said, hesitantly, hoping he would agree to her terms.

"Oh? So I can get an upgrade on my toy. Hmph. I agree," he said, running his fingers down her neck and stopped at her hip. He looked at her body, following her curves. She gulped. _What does he does to her?_ "All you have to do, Lucy, is listen to one command. Stand on this stone with your arms above your head," he smirked, and pointed to the stone she was observing early. Lucy obeyed his command and got up, off the ground. Terri grabbed her arm.

"Please don't do this! I don't want you to get hurt because of me!" Lucy smiled back at Terri.

"I want to protect you, Terri. You shouldn't be going through this pain. I shall endure it for you." Terri was staring at Lucy; tears flowed down her cheek, reaching her blue hair.

"Please don't!" Her gripped tightened. Lucy touched Terri's hand, telling her to loosen her grip. Terri looked away and obeyed, crying. Lucy stood on the stone with her arms straight above her head. She took a deep breath, preparing for what's coming.

"Beautiful, Lucy," he said, snapping his fingers. Lucy closed her eyes, taking deep breaths. Chains came from the stone under her, clipping onto each of her ankles, and chains above her clipped onto each of her wrist. She was lifted up to where her toes barely skimmed the ground. Lucy flinched. "Finally. You're mine forever, Lucy. I just figured out was I'm gonna do to you," he whispered in her ear.

He began nipping on the skin on her neck. The cold touch of his lips on her neck rippled throughout her body, making her tremble. She was uncomfortable just by his touch. She wanted to murder him. He undid the button that held her cloak and it fell to the ground behind her. Her was in her black tank top and her black shorts. She began to twitch, feeling the cold air rushed to her newly revealed skin, gifting her goosebumps. Duke was still nipping and sucking on her neck's skin.

He put a hand under her shirt, feeling her warm hips. He was desperate for her and ripped off her shirt. She began trembling as he put a thumb in her shorts. She bit her bottom lip at the moment he tore off her shorts, leaving her in her bra and panties. Terri watched in horror from a corner, whimpering at what Duke was doing. She covered her eyes, not watching to watch. Duke bent down, gripping her hips, and placed kisses along her belly. She growled and wiggled around, trying to push him away.

He smirked and ripped off her panties, then her bra, leaving her completely revealed to him. He sucked on the delicacy in front of him, kneading the twin. She shut her eyes tightly, creating wrinkles on her forehead, hoping that this monster would stop. She thought of anything that would distract her from this pain. Erza, Gray, Happy, Wendy...Natsu. She thought of the day she was captured, how Natsu was trying everything in his power to get to her. This made her happy inside. She knew they were coming for her; she knew they were going to rescue her. This made happy, this made her have hope. She could save Terri. She could be free from this monster.

Duke stopped and she snapped back into reality, holding onto her thoughts. He whispered in her ear, "Don't think it stopped. The real torture is beginning." He placed two fingers on her forehead, making her head tilt back, showing her a scene. "Before Lisanna came back, you were planning on leaving the guild, were you not?" _No. Please no. I wanted to forget. Please. "_ You knew someone was coming after you so you wanted to leave the guild, protecting them, thinking you were gonna make them happy. But then, Lisanna came back, taking all of Natsu's attention away from you, and you were jealous. So you decided to stay for two more months."

She watched as the scenes flew by in her head, memories she wanted to leave behind. Tears were forming in her physical body, desperate to escape. Terri listened to what his was saying, not like she wanted to. "You knew you loved him. You tried to talk to him, but he pushed you away. You missed how he would break into your apartment. You missed waking up next to him and kicking him out of your bed. He ignored you for two months. He never loved you." Those words repeated in her head. Scenes of Natsu and Lisanna smiling appeared, taunting her. _He never loved me. I was a replacement._ "You were a replacement. He loves Lisanna." _He loves Lisanna._ Lucy screamed, tears flowed down her cheeks, as he kept on talking. He was already getting to her, and she couldn't stop him. "You left the guild, bring sorrow for a few people, but not everyone." He brought up scenes, everyone crowding around Lisanna, as she smiled back at them.

"I was a replacement…" she mumbled as he went on.

"Only five people cared about you. You left the guild for a different purpose. You were so jealous, you left the guild. Remember when you erased your own emblem?" He brought up the day when erased her emblem in front of Mira. "Mira was so happy when she got her little sister back, she was still happy when you left. She never cared. Natsu watched you erase your own emblem, but he didn't even care. He just turned away, he focus never left the love of his life. Natsu never loved you. He loves Lisanna. You're weaker than her. You're useless to the guild No one cares about you, and no one ever will. You don't belong to the guild. You never had a family." Lucy screamed again as he removed his fingers from her forehead. "I love you, Lucy. And I will be the only person that ever will." Her eyes became dull, she couldn't move a muscle.

"You love me...you are the only person that loves me…"


	5. Chapter 5: Truth

Credit: ElementalMiko12 I loved the story that ElementalMiko12 wrote, so I wanted to continue it. I added my own plot, and used some their ideas for the story. I'm trying to slow down the story because some of you guys said that I was rushing a little. I'm trying my best!

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 **Chapter 5**

 **NATSU POV**

Erza woke up before the boys, yawning at the dim sunlight that made its

way to them through window. "Looks like it dawn," she said, getting out of bed. "Wake up, boys."

"Just a little more…" Gray mumbled. Natsu was snoring next to Gray, hugging

the soft pillow. "It's so early!" he moaned and tried to return to his slumber.

"Lucy…I love you...come back," Natsu murmured in his sleep. Both Gray and

Erza shot up at the words that he mumbled. He kept murmuring those words, as he hugged the pillow tighter. Those words echoed in her head and she mentally smiled. Erza stared at him, debating whether she should wake him up or let him rest. She slapped him.

"Wake up!" Erza slapped him into reality, making him fall out of bed. "We don't have time for this!"

"Ow! What the hell?" Natsu moaned, rubbing the red mark on his that was left

on his face. He felt the mark sting on his cheek.

"We need to leave you two! Wake up!" She re-quipped into her armor and punched Gray in the face, making him moan.

"Damn! It's still early in the morning!" Gray turned over so he could lay on his stomach. He muscles shifted every time he took a breath. Gray flinched as he turned his head to face her and she gave him a cold stare. Natsu was already sweating in fear. He tilted his head down, trying not to make direct eye contact.

"We need to get moving! We have a long way to go, so get your asses out of bed if you want to save Lucy!" Erza quickly packed her things and made her bed. Gray got up and started to gather his belongings while Natsu just stood still, leaning on the wall, thinking. He started fidgeting with his fingers, whispering something to himself.

"Lucy…" he said to himself. Erza and Gray saw him hesitate, but they chose to ignore it.

"Hey, Erza," Gray said stretching his arms in the air. "Let's get food. I'm pretty hungry. The sound of 'food' made Natsu shot up. He had forgotten all about his demanding hunger and heard his stomach growl.

"Yeah, let's get food," Natsu said, putting a hand to his stomach, trying to ignore his thoughts.

"Alright, but we will catch up to things once we finish. I could use some strawberry cake." Gray had finished packing his things and Natsu threw his bag over his back. Erza just finished cleaning up the room and they left it to complete darkness.

 **LUCY POV**

Lucy was on the ground, still naked from last night. Her forehead pounded like crazy and she was shivering. She put her palm against her forehead, trying to ease the pain, but it didn't work. She winced as the throbbing pain ripple throughout her body, and her muscles refused to move, but she had to get up. She used her arm to lift her torso from the cold ground. _I'm naked. There is a man here._ She immediately focus her thoughts to her core, hoping that it wasn't throbbing. Thankfully, it wasn't and relief ran through her body.

As she slowly got up, she felt a long slice of pain on her belly as she tried to lift herself up but her muscles still refused.. It demanded that she stayed on the ground. She felt like she could only feel pain as she lowered herself back to the ground. Her body jerked as she slowly hit the ground. The broken skin rubbed against each other as the ground touched her naked back, making her tremble. The blood that escaped was already dried and thank the lords for that. "How did I get it though?" she whispered to herself. Her fingers followed the wound, and traced it over and over again, making sure it wasn't too deep, but each time she touched it, she was in agony. She could feel the loose skin that was damaged. Flakes of dead skin surrounded the edge of her wound as dry blood tried to cover it up..

The room was still damp and cold. Her cloak brushed along her arm and she immediately grabbed it, covering her naked body. Terri was in the corner, sleeping with her back against the wall. Lucy looked around the room another time, strips of broken cloth covered the cold ground.

Her memory was hazy. Every time she traced back to the time he cuffed her with chains, black wall of darkness was all she could remember. She remembered screaming, screaming in sorrow, begging for help. She touched her forehead, feeling a slight bump in the middle. Her wrist ached from the metal chains. A glare came upon her face, as she remembered what happened. _I was a replacement. He wasn't happy with me at all. No one was._

If only she hadn't been so foolish, she would have never fell into his trap. Now that he has knowledge of her dark emotions, he can have complete control over her body.

 _ **NO ONE POV FLASHBACK**_

" _Hey guys Natsu. Can we talk?" It had been a week after Lisanna came back, and he had not spoken a word to Lucy since._

" _Later," he mumbled and brushed her off like she was some kind of bug. His attention never left Lisanna. Lucy frowned like always and walked over to her small group of friends that consist of Juvia, Wendy, Levy, Gajeel, and Carla._

" _He still isn't talking to you, huh?' Levy asked, sadly._

" _No. Everyone is still wrapped up with Lisanna coming back to life. I can understand. They thought she was dead for three years."_

" _I still don't think that's an excuse," mumbled Wendy. "Maybe they just...just... I don't know…"_

" _We're all pretty much ghost, believe or not," Carla complained._

" _It doesn't matter. At least I can still talk to you guys," Lucy beamed, trying the cheer them up._

" _Come on, bunny girl. We all know you have feelings for him. Aren't you a little concerned that he's all over that chick?" Gajeel asked, adding a frown._

" _That doesn't matter. And it's not feelings, it's just a crush. But obviously, it's gonna go away." Lucy plopped her elbows on the table, resting her chin on her palms. Gajeel could tell she was lying. He could smell her discomfort with Natsu being around Lisanna all the time. He could hear that her heart rate sped up when she spoke those words. She doesn't want to talk about that so he chose to ignore._

" _Juvia is sad because Gray-sama won't talk." Juvia looked down at her lap and whimpered. "He won't even look at me...Did I do something wrong?" Tears fell down her face. She tried to keep more tears from falling._

" _Don't worry, Juvia. Everything is gonna get better once things have settled down." Levy rubbed Juvia's back._

 _ **FLASHBACK(TWO MONTHS LATER)**_

 _Lucy walked in the guild hall, with a black cloak, covering her whole body but her face. She walked past the mob of people of people that were still crowded around Lisanna and Natsu. Her group of friends were still at their normal table, talking about going on missions. Gajeel looked up first up from the conversation._

" _Hey there, bunny girl." Lucy took five letters and put them on the table. Everyone watched as she placed them in the middle of the table, confused._

" _Hey guys." Lucy first went to Levy and gave her a hug._

" _What's going on?" Levy asked, puzzled when Lucy gave her a hug. "Did something happen?"_

" _Do I need an excuse to hug my friends?" Lucy smiled._

" _Well, I guess you don't…" Levy replied._

" _Don't worry!" I'll tell you after I get back." Lucy went on hugging Wendy, Juvia, and Carla. She stopped at Gajeel and smiled, holding out her arms. "Do you want a hug? I know you'll need it." Lucy said with a sad smile. Everyone at the table was confused but went back to their own conversations._

" _Whatever bunny girl." Gajeel leaned down, so Lucy could put her arms around his neck. "So. Wanna tell me why you're leaving right now?" he whispered in her ear, so no one could hear them._

" _Someone is coming after me. I don't want to put the guild through anymore trouble so I need to leave."_

" _You're not gonna put any of us through any trouble, besides can't we just beat their ass?"_

" _No. They just got one of their life long friends back. I'm not gonna bother them."_

" _Do you know who is it?"_

" _I don't know. I need to figure out that too." She took a deep breath._

" _Do you want to tell me the other reason you're leaving?" She hesitated to tell him, but he already knew something was up._

" _Natsu and Lisanna…" she mumbled._

" _So you're leaving over jealousy. I get it." he chuckled quietly._

" _You know that's not the entire reason, Gajeel. Plus, if I leave now, no one will even notice."_

" _We will…"_

" _I know, but I can't stay here."_

" _Fine, but let me give you the proper send off. First, you must never reveal sensitive information about Fairy Tail to others for as long as you live. Second, you must never use former contacts met through your being in the guild for personal gain. Third, though our paths may have diverged, you must continue to live out your life with all your might, you must never consider your own life to be something insignificant, and you must never forget about your friends for as long as you live."_

" _I never thought you would remember that, Gajeel."_

" _You have no faith in me, bunny girl." He laughed._

" _I have some." Lucy pulled away from their hug. "Give these to Natsu, Gray, and Erza. They're too busy to pay attention to me right now so I'll give the job to you!." She smiled and handed him three letters with red seals on the front._

" _Ok…" he mumbled as he took the neatly sealed letters and put them in his pocket._

" _Thanks for the send off." Lucy smiled._

" _No prob." He smiled at Lucy._

" _Don't worry, Bro. I'll be back."_

" _I'll be waiting, Sis." They both had a slight laugh._

 _Natsu turned around from Lisanna, looking at Lucy and Gajeel. He had a feeling that something was happening. Lucy had both of her hands behind her back. He saw her guild mark fade away. He blinked, and hit his head, hoping that he was seeing things, her hand was empty. Her guild mark was gone. Lucy walked out of the guild hall, putting her hood on. Natsu turned to Gajeel, who had a depressed look. He walked over to him._

" _What happened to Lucy?" Natsu said, with serious tone._

" _Now why in hell would you care?" he shot back._

" _Because she's my frie-" Gajeel interrupted him._

" _Oh don't even get started with that shit!" Gajeel growled at him. Every single person in the guild turned to them, to see what the argument was about. They all put their hands to the side of their heads, feeling odd. Lisanna was angry._

" _What happened to Lucy?" Natsu repeated, clutching his fist. Flame erupted from his body, ready to burn anything it encounters._

" _You happened! You're the whole fuckin reason why she left!"_

" _What the hell are you talking about?"_

" _What I just said. You're the reason. You ignored her for two months for that chick standing over there." Gajeel glared at Lisanna. "I thought you were her family, Salamander, but I'm pretty sure she knew that she was a replacement. Do you know how many times she tried to have a decent conversation with you?! Apparently, fire dragon slayers don't keep their promises when they say their going to protect!" What? Two months? Ignored her for two months? When? Natsu was furious._

" _What the hell! I never thought of her as a replacement?!"_

" _Well it sure as hell looked like it! You made her think she was a fucking replacement! THE WHOLE STUPID GUILD MADE HER THINK THAT!" Natsu stood there, frozen in time. The whole guild was shocked. He didn't know what he was suppose to feel. He didn't realize Gajeel had become so close to Lucy . Natsu didn't want anyone near her. He said something that he knew was a bad idea._

" _Like hell she would want you! You made her cry! Have you forgotten about Phantom Lord's attack? How it destroyed her?" He remembered the time when Lucy jumped off the building. She trusted him. He trust her._

" _What about you? You haven't spoken to her in two months and that's why she left. At least I spoke to her while you didn't! And I'm sure as hell that she prefers me over you!" Me, he thought. I was the reason she was able to be in the guild, right? Did I make her cry? Natsu stood still in shock. Everyone had guilt over their faces. They were all so confused. They were ashamed that Lucy felt that way. "I'm out of there." Gajeel shoved Natsu back, pushing the letters to his chest. "She wanted to have these. You better not burn them. I'm gonna wait until my sister comes back!" Gajeel walked out of the guild, leaving Natsu alone, leaving him in a pool of sadness._

 **NATSU POV**

"Man...how long until we get there?" Gray asked stretching his arms out, making his back muscles ache. All three of their calves were burning from running for who knows how long. Gray was walking around shirtless, showing off his half-naked body to Mother Nature.

"Maybe a day or two, at least," mumbled Erza. Natsu was still quiet. _Lucy, where are you?_ he cried desperately in his head. He couldn't remember what he did to make her leave. He doesn't remember ignoring her for two months. All he could remember was seeing Lisanna pop out of thin air and then Lucy erasing her own guild mark. His head was throbbing out of confusion. _I ignored her for two months? I wouldn't do that, would I?_ He needed to do something for her, to make it up to her, to atone for the pain he caused her.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Gray asked. He noticed Natsu had be spacing out while they were walking through the grassland.

"Nothing…" he answered. Gray wasn't dumb enough to accept his answer. He knew something was nagging at Natsu.

"Tell us what's bothering you, fire-princess."

"I just hope Lucy's safe…" he murmured. He still thought about the day she left, still confused. _Two months._ That bothered him.

"I bet she already found a way to escape that bastard, considering her level of strength now," Erza said, giving him hope. She turned her head around, giving him a smile. He forced out a smile as Erza looked back in front of her, making she doesn't tripped on anything as she walked.

"She probably has. I have faith in her." Gray yawned.

"We are going to save her, Natsu. Remember, we were sprinting for five hours, so that should have gotten us a day and a half ahead," Erza clarified. "Don't worry. We have less than two more days of walking. We'll get there soon." She looked back at the two of them, as the wind blew her red hair to the side. Her armor shined as the sunlight slowly dimmed. "Then we'll be able to save Lucy," she assured. Natsu had a slight smile. _Yeah. We'll save her. And when we do, I'll tell her._

They walked for a few more hours until they made camp under a tree. The stars sparkled in the sky while the grass was housing crickets, that chirped throughout the night.

Dawn came upon the group of friends as they rested next to each other under a tree. The sky abandoned its dark features as the sun came to power, slowly erasing the dark night. The tip of the sun touched the horizon. Erza's eye lids fluttered open as the sun made a new day. Both Natsu and Gray were still sleeping away.

A little boy ran down the road. "Get back here you little rat!" A man was running down the road with a pitch fork. The child kept running quickly down the road as the man continued yelling. Erza angrily stood up from under the tree as a vein slowly formed on her forehead. She began to stomped angrily toward the boy and the man. They fully awoke her from her slumber. They ruined her peaceful morning. They will pay.

"What is the meaning of this?!" she yelled, summoning swords, trapping the child and man in a circle ready to strike. Dark aura came from her body as she commanded her swords. The boy fell to the ground on his knees, frightened by the red headed lady. The man felt the dark aura that Erza was releasing and gulped.

"I-I'm sor-ory lady. That boy," he stuttered and pointed to the blue haired child that was on the break of crying,"He destroyed my newly built b-barn and I-"

"I didn't! They animals were scared because their was a scream and they went crazy!" he retorted.

"Stop lying!" The man snapped. The boy flinched and took a few steps back.

"I'm not!"

"Which direction did you hear the scream?" Erza asked, suspiciously. She didn't want to deal with this nonsense.

"I don't know…" the boy murmured. "I just heard it out of nowhere about 20 minutes ago."

"That's strange. I didn't hear it." Erza pondered. She tried to remember if she heard one earlier but nothing came up. "Well, I think we should change the subject for a little bit. So, how much are the damages?" Erza asked, hesitantly, dropping her swords.

"Man. What's this the noise about?" Gray walked over to Erza, who was crossing her arms and watched him come closer. He had his hands behind his head. The child curiously watched the muscular man walking towards them.

"Gray! Put on your clothes!" Erza boomed. Gray screamed in embarrassment when he realized he was in his underwear in front of strangers. He ran back to where the tree was to cover his almost naked body. Erza turned back to the man that was looking off into the world. She waited for an answer to her previous question. He noticed that Erza was waiting for him to speak.

Oh! Umm… 50,000 jewel. Why do you ask?"

"Here this should cover it." She pulled out a small sack of coin, waiting for him to accept her offer.

"Oh! Thank you!" He graciously took the bag into his hands and opened it. He was satisfied.

"You should go now sir. I shall speak to the boy." He quickly walked away, grinning like he won a new toy. Erza watched as he disappeared down the road. She turned her attention back to the boy.

"What's your name?" Erza bent down so her face was in front of his, so he didn't have to look up. He looked slightly to the right; he was uncomfortable by how close she was.

"Sam…" he mumbled.

"Well, isn't you mother worried that your is a place like this?" Erza asked. The features on his face darkened.

"She was killed. I only have my sister…" Erza's face sadden.

"Where is your sister?"

"Me and her were captured by this man. She found a way to escape, but she couldn't come with me…"

"You say you were captured by a man?" _Could he be the same one that took Lucy?_ "Do you remember his name?"

"Yeah, it's was something -uke, but I can remember it. Puke? Buke? Guke? Luke? I can't remember…"

"Duke?"

"Yes! That was it…" his face saddened by remembering his sister was still held captive. "How did you know?"

"My friend, Lucy, was captured as well. He took her about a week ago…" Erza mumbled.

"Oh. I sorry miss."

"It's ok! We're going to rescue our friend." Erza vowed.

"Then can I come too?" he requested. "I would like to help save your friend and my sister!"

"Sure! If that's what you want." Erza tried to give him the brightest smile. Something was nagging her. A scream echoed in her head. She knew something was wrong.

 **LUCY POV( Later at night)**

Pain. Pain was all she felt. It rippled throughout her body from her head down to the tips of her toes. Screams. Pain. "Lucy! Please calm down!" Terri forced Lucy's head in her lap. She tried to soothe the screaming girl by rubbing her hands on her face, telling Lucy she was there to help, but nothing worked. She was still in pain. Lucy's body twitched while she had her hands on both sides of her head, trying to stop the suffering. Terri couldn't do anything but watch the girl scream. "Please! Make it stop! I can't sit here while Lucy is screaming. I don't know what to do!" Terri's face was streaming with tears. She couldn't watch the person that risked her life to protect her in anymore pain. "Please someone! Help!" Terri couldn't do anything but beg. She felt completely useless. Lucy stopped screaming, but her body was still twitching. Her breathing was still heavy, sweat and tears were slipping down from the side of her face to the ground. Terri stroked her hair because that was the only thing she could do for her. "Lucy, please. Wake up…" Terri whispered. Lucy's body stopped twitching and her breathing slowed. Terri felt relief run her over, but then Lucy begun again. Her screams her louder than before. Terri could feel the vibration of her bones. Lucy was in pain again and she couldn't stop it.


	6. Chapter 6: Pain

Credit: ElementalMiko12 I loved the story that ElementalMiko12 wrote, so I wanted to continue it. I added my own plot, and used some their ideas for the story.

 **Hey guys! I'm trying to update every 2-4 days! It has been kinda hard to keep up with this because of school. UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. But when it is summer, maybe 2-3? I don't know but please review! I kinda want some opinions, you know? Lolz. Please don't judge me on my grammer. ;)**

* * *

Terri was sleeping with her back against the wall with Lucy's head in her lap. Their breathing were slow and peaceful, but Lucy was still twitching from last night. "Wake up. Nap time is over." A sharp, deep voice spoke and Terri's eyes fluttered open. _Is someone here to save us? Please! We need your help!_ Her vision began to focus and the blur faded away. She was desperately wrong. The dark blob turned into a man, wearing a black suit and tie with a white undershirt. Duke stood outside the cell, waiting for them to awake. He smirked as he opened the creaky, rusted door, and walked in. The footsteps became louder and louder as he went deeper in the dark cell. He reeked of an unpleasant, strong scent as it fill the cell. Without a word, he bent down and pulled Lucy out of Terri's grasp.

"Stop! What the hell! Give her back!" She didn't want Lucy to be with that man. She didn't want her to suffer. Duke waved his fingers and Terri's lower body was frozen in time but she could still move her head. Her muscles were forcing her down and all she could do was watch.

"Let her go!" Terri imagined herself breaking free of the spell, saving Lucy from the man that caused her pain, but all she could do was created wrinkles on her forehead and tightly squeeze her eyes shut as she made an effort to break free. She watched in horror as he chained the unconscious girl in the same places on her wrists and ankles.

"Don't worry. I won't hurt her." he said sarcastically. He tickled Lucy's chin as he ran his tongue up and down her right cheek. Lucy was still unconscious. Her chin rested on her collarbone as her arms dangled from the chains. The bottom of her toes were planted on the stone.

"YOU BASTARD! LET HER GO!" Terri attempted to break free; she was intent on killing him. He positioned his hands on the sides of her curved hips. Her caped dangled from her neck, down her back and reached the balls of her feet. The only barrier between him and her was her bra.

Lucy's eyes fluttered open. Pain shoot right through her head and she whimpered. The chains slowly rattled as she regain conscious. He smiled, slightly brushing his top lip against the lower edge of her mouth and nipped tip skin on her neck. Her eyes widened and she began to wiggle around. The pressure on her hips increased and he sucked more intensely on her neck. She stopped struggling and pain shoot through her head with more pressure and she her brain was screaming. She moaned as her brain was overloaded with pain. Duke took advantage of her whimpering and slightly stroked her core but quickly pulled away. It took Lucy a couple of seconds to process what he had done. She flinched and tried to push him away but he stood his ground.

"Lucy! Leave her alone!" Terri was screaming and couldn't move. Lucy turned her head towards Terri and gave her a slight smile to calm her down telling her 'everything is alright' but everything was not alright. Lucy was going to be tortured again right in front of her again. She couldn't take it. Terri didn't want to see this happen again. She was trembling just thinking about what might happen.

Duke was still nipping on her skin. He moved a hand under her cloak and stroked her back. He moved his hand up and down her skin, each time over her bra strap that kept it together. He grazed his hand on the soft spot where her lower back met her butt. Lucy flinched and tried to squirm out of his grasp. Terri's mouth was forced to close shut before she could say anything.

"Stop it Duke! Let me go!" He ignored her quarrel and moved his hands up the sides of her body and she shivered.

His touch was disgusting and she wanted it to burn. She wanted to cleanse every part of her body that he infected with his touch. She hated how he was trying to seduce her, trying to make her give in.

"Scream my name more," he whispered in her ear and nipped it. She moaned in irritation and wiggled more. She flexed her arms, lifting herself barely an inch higher, attempting to away from his touch, but he follow her. His hands moved to her outer thighs to keep her still. "You're so smooth here," he whispered and nipped her neck more while he rubbed her thigh. His cold hands pressed against her warm skin and she trembled. "I want to give you the time of your life, but we'll do that after our wedding." She didn't know how to respond to his words, so she gave him a sharp hiss and wiggle more.

He groaned and pressed his body against her's. Her breast pressed against his well defined pecs and his legs pushed against her core. "It's so hard to keep myself in check. I just want you so bad it makes my whole body ache. I love your body, Lucy. I never knew one could ever exist!" he murmured, seductively.

"Get your dirty hands off of me!" she shot back at him, presenting him with a glare. He smirked.

"Why should I? I know you like this." He moved his hands to her inner thighs, touching her lips. She squirmed and pushed him away with her legs, but he still held on to her jiggling thighs. "You're being such a bad girl, right now." Her muscles started aching like she sprinted for ten miles straight. The air in her lungs were quickly escaping as her muscles demanded more air. She felt her lungs become smaller as her breathing stopped. She could feel the space around her airless. Her vision was invaded by black spots as she could not take more breaths.

The cold air rushed back to her; she could feel cool air pass through her windpipe as she took deep breaths. Her lungs slowly pumped up and down as she took deep breaths. Her muscles stop aching as her breathing settled. "Did you like that?" He smiled as he squeezed her inner thigh. She flinched as rubbed her inner thigh."I give you that experience every time you get annoying."

"You monster." she shot back.

"Uh-uh-uh. Remember. I already have half of your darkest emotions under my control. You have so many, forcing out of you was like taking candy from a baby." She hadn't realized he already had that much under his possession. She was so careless. _I have no chance of winning now._

"You know what?. I'll just bring the other half of them out right now since you've been a bad girl." _No. Please no. You can't. I've never felt this helpless in my life. I can't win._

He slowly place two fingers on her forehead as her eyes followed them. She eyes turned pitch black as her dark emotions came forth.

 _He never loved me. Lisanna was always that person. Why is she even here? If she didn't come back, he would love me. It doesn't matter now. He loves her. I was a replacement. If she hadn't come back, then the guild would want me. It's her fault. No. It's my fault. I should have never joined Fairy Tail. They don't accept me. I'm not family._ Small dark veins began popping out of her forehead.

"Dammit. She's resisting. Looks like I have to try harder." He smiled at her dark eyes. She was in her own little world. He rubbed his fingers around her belly button. "I'm sorry, babe, but you're causing me lots of trouble." He lifted his hand, forming it into a fist, and rammed it in her stomach. Her eyes still dark as night, she still reacted to the impact, coughing up blood and it landed on his suit. The black veins disappeared and he smiled.

 _"_ _Ahhhh!"_ she thought. _No. These are not my feelings. Lisanna shouldn't be here. No! I've never felt that way about her, have I? No!_ The dark emotions fought against her own. _Which ones are real? These can't be my emotions, can they? I can't give in, but I can't fight it. He never loved me. He only thought of me as a sister, a friend. But then, after she came, I became nothing to him. I'm worthless. I became nothing to everyone. I'm weak, and I'll never become strong. No matter how hard I try, things will never change. I will always be a nuisance to the guild, I will never be strong. This is what I will always be, useless and weak._

Duke watched as her eyes changed. He was satisfied. He watched as her chocolate pupils turn red as blood. Now her eyes were black with red pupils. The ceremony is now complete. _To think, she believed the fake emotions I gave her. I just gave her a little push, but that doesn't matter. She is mine. No one's but mine. No more resisting. Now, you will only love me. I have complete control over your body, Lucy. We can finally do things your body was meant for. And you can't stop me. We can finally be married. We can finally have children. No one loves you. No one ever will, but me._

 **NATSU POV**

"I can't believe I walked this far all by myself!" Sam was proud of himself for walking a long distance all by himself, something that he has never done before.

"I'm surprised too, that you made it this far," Gray replied.

"Didn't I just say that?"

"No! You totally didn't!" Gray joked. He wanted to make sure the kid felt comfortable around strangers. The little boy tilted his head up, so he could see the tall, muscular man and grinned.

"We should make camp in maybe 3 hours?" Erza was still deciding if Sam could still walk in 3 hours or not. "There is a town nearby though…" Erza thought of how it would be nice to sleep on a comfortable bed, something she felt like she hasn't done in years.

Natsu was walking behind all of them, nervous of the journey ahead. His head was tilted slightly to the ground, and his fingers fiddled with his vest. _What should I say when we rescue her? I love you? No! I-I can't be that straightforward with her, can I? No, I can't. But she seemed to be really straightforward when she told me. No. I can't just do that. I would be such a weirdo, like she is._ He smirked at himself, thinking about the time they first met. _I want it to be romantic when I tell her. Hopefully, she doesn't already know. I want to tell her personally, that I love her, with no one watching us or eavesdropping._ His smirk turned into a small frown. _What if she doesn't love me anymore...what about that time Gajeel said I abandoned her...did I? No. She probably still does, right? She did admit that everything in the letter was true, that there was no lie. I have nothing to worry about! I promise you Lucy, when we rescue you from that asshole, I'll make it up to you, for that time, even if I don't remember it. I promise to-_

"Natsu!" Erza snapped her fingers together in front of his face to grab his attention.

"Huh?" Natsu was furious that someone had interrupted his thoughts. Although he wanted to ignore whoever it was, he did not want to upset the red head. "What? S-sorry. Wasn't listening."

"I asked you if you were hungry. There is a town up ahead."

"Sure!" _Maybe I could get her a gift! She'll probably like that! What should I get her?_ "How far is it?"

"About three miles," Gray interrupted. "We should also find an inn over there."

"Ok," Natsu replied. _Maybe a necklace? Or a ring? Or a bracelet? Maybe a necklace..._

"What are you thinking about?" Sam walked along side with Natsu, curious about his thoughts.

"Stuff," he replied. Natsu doesn't want anyone to know his feelings.

"What stuff?" Sam asked. Now he was even more curious as Natsu thought of an answer.

"Stuff like…" _I can't tell you._ "how imma eat 'cha and fry you!" Natsu chased after Sam with his arms in the air, pursuing the small child. He hoped that the child wouldn't bring up his previous question and forget it.

"Calm down you two!" Erza slammed both of her hands on their heads, forcing them to stop running wild. She looked at both of them to see if they were sure to stop.

"Yes-ss ma'am!" They were frightened by the scarlet haired being.

"Stay focused! We need to get to the town quickly!"

"Ok, ok," Natsu rubbed the top of his head, where the red head hit him.

When they reached the crowd town, Natsu excited about buying a gift for Lucy.

"Hey. Let's go search for an inn before we eat," Erza suggested.

"Yeah. That's probably a good idea." Gray yawned. "We don't want to eat at a place with all of our bags with us."

"But we do want to eat with our shirts on, right Gray?" Sam giggled at Gray.

"Yeah, whatever Sam." They all followed Erza as she looked around for inn. People were pushing each other around, walking in store and restaurants that were infested with people. He almost lost sight of them as the people shoved him around, but he could still keep up the their scent. Natsu began looking around for stores that he thought would have stuff Lucy might like. He saw an interesting clothes store with lots of things that look like mission gear. _I think she has enough clothes. Plus, if hers get destroyed, Virgo can just bring her more…_ He looked around she for more shops. _Maybe I should get her chocolate? Nah, that will spoil quickly, I think_. _What was I planning on getting her? I know I had an idea a couple hours ago._ Natsu spotted a jewelry store out of the corner of his eye. _Right! I was gonna get her a necklace!_

"Hey guys!"

"What? Are you gonna beg for food?" Gray answered. "Just hold, flame-brain. We just need to-"

"No, ice-princess," he shot back. "I'll catch up with you guys in a bit, ok? I'm gonna check out this store I found. Don't forget about Sam!" He hoped the little boy wouldn't follow him.

"Alright…" Erza said, hesitantly. "don't get lost! You better catch up with us later!" Erza replied.

"I will!" Natsu hurried and went to the door. I waited for his friends to get out of his sight and marched in. The scent of new wood reached his nose and it smelled good!

"Welcome sir!"

"Oh, hi!" Natsu grinned at the man and started looking around the neat store. There was a couple that began looking at rings. _That could be me and Lucy, one day…_ Natsu began curiously looking around the store.

"Has anything caught your eye sir?"

"No, not yet…" Natsu hesitated. He saw a few that has caught his eye. _No! Those aren't good enough for Lucy,_

"Would you care to tell me what actually you are looking for? I could possible be of use." _...possible be of use...Lucy...what did I do?...Please tell me..._ Natsu forced himself to keep his bright grin.  
"Oh, ummm, I'm looking for something...maybe like a necklace?." The store owner's face lit up.

"Oh. Then perhaps you would prefer the ones in our exclusive collection! Some of them store objects and some store magic power."

"Oh! Can I take a look?" Natsu was so excited, he really wanted to surprise Lucy with something that showed how much he loves her.

"Here you go sir." The owner held out a box, that contained about 20 necklaces that neatly hung from gray nails. Each necklace has it's own metal hook, keeping it in place.

He placed the box down in front of Natsu and he carefully examined them. His eye was stuck on a necklace. It had a small red jewel in the shape of a sphere and smooth gold covered half the top half of it so it would stick with the chain. On the gold, there were small imprints of twelve stars. _I think Lucy will love this one!_ The owner noticed that Natsu had an interest on a certain necklace and decided he would explain to him.

"That necklace is made out of a mineral call _Shino._ Right now, the mineral is very hard to find and very rare in this region. This mineral can only hold one type of magic. For example, if I practice water magic, I can transfer my magic in the orb. A mark will appear on the orb, marking it so that the orb can only store that element. I can pull out the magic energy stored up in it and use it however I please. It can hold a great deal of magic energy, so it is very popular for making lacrima."

"Oh. So I can store fire magic in it and that will be the only magic this thingy can hold forever?" Natsu was still confused with the concept.

"Yes sir. And you when you extract the energy out of the orb, you can transfer that same magic back in it."

"Oh. I sort of get it…" _I have no clue what he is talking about._ "Anyway, how much is it?"

"55,000 thousand jewel sir." In his head, Natsu's jaw dropped. _That's a lot. That's half of my savings for this month! No! This is for Lucy! She's worth over a billion jewel! I can afford this, no biggy!_ Natsu hesitated as he grabbed his sack of coins at his waist. "Thank you sir. Would you like a box?" _Wonder what she'll think about this? Will she like it? Does she still love me? I'll always love you, Lucy._ "Sir?" Natsu's head jumped out of his thoughts and into reality.

"Huh?"

"Would you like the necklace to be in a box?" he repeated

"Oh. Sure, I guess." The owner handed Natsu a white box with the necklace neatly placed in it. "Thank you, sir!" Natsu carefully tucked the necklace in his bag.

"May fate guide you back to this store. Have a good day."

"You too!" Natsu was excited that he bought a gift for Lucy. _I love you, Lucy._

 **LUCY POV**

Lucy's eyes turned back to normal; the black covering over her eyes evaporated into the air leaving the red pupil in the white surrounding. The red covering began splitting into little pieces and the pieces moves to the back of her eyes, waiting to be activated again. Her chocolate brown eyes came back into focus and Duke ran his hands over her thighs. "The ceremony is complete, honey," he whispered in her eye as she regained strength to speak.

"Get away from me!" _Dammit! I'm so stupid!_ She wiggled her naked body, trying to escape the man that was way too close to her. The chains rattled against the silence, creating echos that flowed through the cell. Duke ignored her cry and licked the skin above her breast and she inhaled deeply against his cold tongue. "Stop it!" He placed a kiss on her cheek as she made a face of discomfort. He rubbed her stomach with his strong fingers and rest his chin on her shoulders.

"Please…" she murmured as small tears fell down her cheek. She didn't want to feel this way, she hated the feeling that she was about to be raped.

"I'll make you suffer just like you made me suffer for the past 10 years," he murmured. He pulled his hand back from her stomach and she flinched. _I don't want to feel pain anymore. I hate that feeling. I want to disappear. Please, I just don't want to feel pain. I just want to faded away, into the abyss._

She saw his shoulder turn as he moved he arm back for momentum. He slammed his fist on her stomach, making her organs feel like jelly. Pain rippled throughout her body as she trembled in fear. Her back arched as his fist meet with her skin and she coughed up blood and it spilled over his jacket. "Man. And I was trying not to get this even more dirty!" The blonde coughed up more blood as he slowly removed his fist and her body went back to the straight position as the chains rattled. Before she could speak, Duke pulled out a long black whip that was similar to her own. "This is what you get for leaving me for so long." Her eyes widened in fear. _No. Please no. I don't want to feel pain._ A few tears escaped the edge of her eyes as she whimpered.

He whispered and ran he ran fingers over her body. " The other reason is that you fell in love with someone else." Her body trembled in fear as he grazed his fingers where he punched her. She could feel her skin refusing his touch and pain stabbed her from the punch. She winched in pain as her new bruise ached. Tears dripped from her chin onto her chest and they made their way into her breast crack.

He gripped the handle of the whip and whispered in her shaking ear, "I love you." She was too scared to say anything bad. She had never been in this kind of position, where she felt so much pain, not just physical suffering, but mental suffering too. She never felt so helpless. After all of that training, she didn't even bother trying to stitch up the scars from her lonely, solitude years. Her eyes were shaking as he pulled his arm back and slammed it forward.

"AHHHH!" she scream as a deep gash formed on her stomach. Her legs twitched as it spread throughout her body. Blood escaped her wound, dripping down her thighs. She felt her skin rip apart as blood seeped out. Tears trickled down her face. She bit down on her lip, trying to hold back on the torment. He lashed again onto her arms, legs, and chest. She screamed in agony, wanting it to fade away. _Why is this happening to me? Is this my punishment? For being useless._ He kept lashing at her body as blood poured from her wounds. A cut a her thigh was overflowing with scarlet blood; it dripped down her legs, to her ankles, and each drop fell to the ground on the cold stone. _I accept my fate. I accept death. I was brought into this world for no reason. My life is meaningless._ There was no point clinging onto hope, because she lost it a long time ago.


	7. Chapter 7: Founded

Credit: ElementalMiko12 I loved the story that ElementalMiko12 wrote, so I wanted to continue it. I added my own plot, and used some their ideas for the story. The grammar and details are pretty bad but oh well! Hope you enjoy!

* * *

"Boys. Stop fooling around!" Erza glared at Sam and Gray as they swung from a tree branch. It took them 6 hours to arrive at the over-sized mansion. "We need to make a plan! We can't just barge in there and expect them to be weak!" Erza gave everyone an intense stare.

"Come one. They can't be that strong!" Gray replied. Gray was overly cocky and ready to pound the bastards into next week. Natsu sat obediently next to Erza with his arms crossed and he stared at the paper in front of them.

"We need to be careful. Remember, this place is like a whole town and this dude has money! There could be watch dogs all over the place. We need to come up with an effective plan, so we do what we came here for. If you idiots don't fuckin remember, we are here to recuse our family that just came back to us!" Erza looked down at the map in front of her as Gray and Sam sat down next to Erza and Natsu, turning their grins into serious faces. "For all we know, it could be us versus like a thousand.

"It's more likely gonna be four people verus like 250," Sam murmured. He brought his knees to his chest, wrapping his arms around them. Erza came to a realization that Sam has been here before.

"Sam. Do you know what type magic they practice?"

"No. All I know is about abilities are Duke's. He practices an old magic that forbidden. He can control a human body. Well, more like freezing them in place. To control a human body, he has to do this ceremony thing that I can't remember…" he replied with his face saddening.

"Ok. Well, we know that we need to be careful when we are near Duke. Our first priority is to locate where Lucy is hidden." Erza looked at the others, who were staring down at the map of the large area.

"Most likely, she could be in the huge house thing," Gray said, scratching his head.

He was surprised that Natsu hadn't said a thing. _What's wrong with him?_

"That is a possibility, but we need to consider all of our options." Erza focused on the area near the large house. The garden was already gonna be hard to maneuver through. The whole thing was practically a maze. "Consider, if she was in the house, how would we rescue her?" Erza asked, hesitantly. _How would we even get in the house._

"We could just break through this window-"

"No. She's not in the house," Sam disagreed. He unraveled himself and pointed to an empty area close to the massive structure. "Most likely she is in the prison. He wouldn't keep her in the house. She lived there her whole life so she knows all the rooms and stuff. I'm pretty sure he doesn't even know the whole place himself."

"How do you know this?" Erza puzzled.

"Don't forget, I was held prisoner here…" His eyes saddened again at the thought of his sister. "Anyway, he built the prison when he took me and Terri two months ago."

"I thought he bought the place like what, two weeks ago?" Gray interrupted.

"No. He bought it like a month before he took me and Terri… Anyways, Duke can manipulate the magic power the stones produce that make up the cell to cancel out anyone's magic power, no matter powerful they are…"

"This is gonna be hard…" Erza admitted. "Guys. We have a one time chance. If we don't take them down, we could be captured and we won't be able to save Lucy." Natsu flinched at the name, but no one noticed.

"He does have to be near the stones to use its magic, so I guess we could use it to our advantage" Sam considered. "Unless he keeps some of the stone on him…"

"Can't we just get Natsu to sniff her out, grab her, make him go on a rampage to take those guys out? Then I can rip out Duke's guts." Gray put his two fist together, ready to rumble.

"I like the first two ideas, but I don't like the last one." Erza shook her head disapprovingly. "But, we are not here to destroy the building, so don't even consider them possibilities. Even though Duke bought the estate, this is still Lucy's home. We can't just destroy it…"

"Right...I forgot," Gray mumbled, ashamed of what he said.

"Wait, what do you mean by 'sniff her out?'" Sam was curious about what Gray told Erza. "Does that mean Natsu's a dog?! I've always wanted one!" Sam said excitedly. Natsu chuckled, but didn't say anything.

"No. Natsu is a dragon slayer. He is part dragon, so he has a very good sense of smell," Erza said to the surprised boy.

"That's cool!" Sam blurted.

"Yeah…" the dragon slayer mumbled.

"Let's just beat their assess. We don't need a plan. I already know what I'm gonna do once we get there," Gray argued. "They. Will. Pay." Gray flexed his back muscles as he got up and stood behind Erza, crossing his arms. Natsu quickly got to his feet. His hands were balled up in fist at his sides.

"Yeah. Let's go." Natsu stormed toward the large estate, not listening to Erza's threats. _I'm gonna save you Lucy. And when I get my hands on him, he will pay for what he did to you._

* * *

"AHHHHHHH!" Lucy screamed as the whip swatted her one last time. A gash ran through her back, thick red liquid engulfed her lower back side, dripping down her thigh, over the somewhat dry blood. Her body trembled as pain shot through each of her wounds. Dried blood cover her naked(but her bra) body. Her legs felt like jelly and she was positive that they were going to fall off while her arms hung from the chains. Uncontrollable tears flowed down her reddened cheeks as her body trembled. She couldn't stop herself. Fear was all that flowed through her mind. Hope doesn't exist. _No one is going to help._

"You look so beautiful there, being hung from beautiful chains. Ohh! It brings out your eyes!" He smiled at her as she softly cried with her eyes closed. Duke felt the lacrima in his jacket vibrate. He turned around, his back facing her, and he saw a boy, engulfed with fire. He growled and turned around, facing the defeated blonde beauty. "Looks like I have to run, honey." She looked up. "I'll keep you here for now. You just look so beautiful here. Here." He threw clothes at here and she grunted at him. Even the clothes made her feel the stinging wounds. "Oh calm down. It didn't kill you, did it?"

He snapped his fingers and the chains disappeared from her ankles. She fell to the ground and her arms went straight out in front of her to hold herself up. Her body was in a tender state and pain stabbed in every part of her body. She felt small droplets of blood falling from her back. Her arms were unsteady and she almost fell, but kept herself up. _I will not be weak. I've worked hard! I will be strong, for Terri_ , she lied to herself. "Well, I should really get going. I'll see you later, honey." He placed his thumb on her chin and looked in her eyes. "Don't be a bad girl, and I may reward you," he advised, seductively. Lucy gave him a low growl as opened the creaky cell and left. His heels clicked against the stone, creating loud echos the pushed against the walls.

Terri waited until she couldn't hear the echoes of his feet and she rushed to Lucy's side.

"Lucy! Are you ok? I don't know what to do! I just-"

"Calm down, Terri. I'm fine," Lucy lied. "What about you. Are you ok?" Lucy smiled as tears fell down Terri's cheek as she whimpered. "I'm fine, Terri. Plus, it doesn't hurt anymore." Lucy assured. Terri was unconvinced as she observed Lucy's cuts and the dry blood that covered her wounds. She knew she was lying and didn't want her to worry about it.

"No your not! You still bleeding! I don't know what to do! Your bleeding and I can't do anything about it! You she rest or something, before he comes back…" Terri panicked. She urged Lucy to lay down on her lap, but she refused.

"I'm fine," she reassured. "Look, the wounds aren't hurting as bad as they were before…" She gave herself unwanted hope. She remember the pain she felt minutes ago, the stinging vibrations of the whip as it ripped apart skin. She shook her head, changing the subject, she to said, "I'm gonna put on these clothes, ok? Calm down, Terri. And besides, these cuts will disappear when I get my magic back... All I care about is that your safety." Lucy's face saddened at the thought of her magic.

"Think about yourself first! Right now, your cuts are deep, and they could get infected! As you can see, I am not hurt! Please, I just-"

"Terri. I am fine. I am fine as long as you are safe, ok?" Lucy forced smiled and pull Terri in for a small hug. Her wounds burned as the ripped skin rubbed against each other. Her pain receptors reacted to the touch and her wounds reopened, but she ignored it. "Hold on. I'm gonna put my clothes on, ok?" Lucy winced and she hoped Terri didn't notice. Terri nodded slowly as she pulled away and Lucy grabbed the black tank and shorts.

Lucy slowly lifted her tormented arms and carefully pulled the shirt over her head, covering her stained bra. She put on the underwear that Duke provided, and put on the low cut shorts that barely covering the top half of her thighs. Lucy clipped on her cloak around her neck as it dropped down to her ankles and covered her whole body, only exposing her neck and head. Her hood rested on her back, opened to any head that wanted its warmth.

"Let's take a nap. We should probably rest," Lucy informed. She watched Terri's sagging eyes as dark shading appeared under her eyes. Lucy sat down next to Terri and let her head rest against her thighs. Lucy pushed her back against the wall, feeling the blood rush out of she wound in the middle of her back, staining her shirt, but she didn't care. Terri went to sleep quickly as drowsiness took over her body.

Lucy ran her fingers through the blue hair, feeling all the small tangles that formed. _Natsu._ The memory of them being on the train flooded through her as she remembered the feel of his pink locks. She loved how soft they were, and how they never left the spiky state that they were always in. She remembered him smelling her scent and how good he said it was. _Strawberry vanilla._ She remembered Natsu's scent. How sweet and enchanting it was. She didn't have a nose as good as a dragon slayer's, but she could still smell the magnifying scent. _I just want to see him again, but I know they won't come for me. I am on my own. I'll make it. I'll escape and save Terri. Natsu is with Lisanna. He loves her. I'm on my own._

She closed her eyes and let out a big breath before taking in another. Drowsiness took over her body as her conscious faded away.

* * *

Natsu stomped through the large garden, burning everything that touched his angered flames. "NATSU! WE DON'T KNOW IF WE CAN'T TAKE THEM! THIS IS A ONE TIME CHANCE AND WE NEED A PLAN!" Erza ordered. She wanted everything to stay on track so they would save Lucy without interference from anyone.

"I'll burn them up to a crisp for taking her from us!" Natsu exploded. His eyes shot down Erza, who never seen Natsu this angry, and determined. Gray and Sam caught up with Natsu and Erza, who were arguing about having a plan.

"Um, guys? More importantly, hasn't anyone noticed that no one has stopped us out here yet?" Gray growled in suspension. Erza's eyes widened.

"Either know that we were coming or he just doesn't keep watch of that place. Be on guard soldiers!" Erza snapped as she look carefully at her surroundings.

"I don't care. I tear them to shreds," he growled. "They'll pay!" He slammed his left foot into the ground, leaving an immense crack. His flames burned with fury and the others took a step back, trying to escape his flames.

"Natsu…" Sam whispered. Sam's eyes filled with panic as he saw a man ignite his flames and burn everything it has been exposed to. Gray put a hand on the little boy shoulder's, silently indicating that everything is already.

"Natsu just cares about Lucy a lot…" Gray murmured to Sam.

After a few minutes, Natsu slowly walked towards the grand doors, letting his angered flames build up. _I promise, Lucy. I'll save you from this son of a bitch. He will pay._ He kicked down the down the double doors, letting them burn before they even hit the ground. Black ashes floated to the ground as the last of flames died down. Duke smiled mischievously as Natsu snarled.

They were standing in a room big enough to be a grand ballroom. To the left, was a staircase with wood that swirls in circles. The brown stairs complemented the white, complex wood designs as the staircase built up. At the end, it lead to a balcony, where Duke perched on the fence-like structure that kept him from falling. He looked down the pink haired boy and the 100s of soldiers, that were dressed in black tuxes, who stood in his way. _This little kid doesn't even stand a chance._ Duke smiled as he watched the boy burn the ground below him.

"FIRE DRAGON ROAR!" Instant flames shot wildly from his mouth and easily hit his targets, but they quickly recovered. Erza came behind him and put a hand on his burning shoulder. She had already requip into her flame empress armor. Her red sword was held at her side, ready to strike. Her hair was in two high ponytails. Yellow plates of metal covered her breasts as red armor covered her stomach. Red and black wings hung from her mid back.

"Looks like we don't need plan." Gray smirked as pumped his fist together. His shirt was already striped off, so he could fight freely without a distraction. Erza chuckled as Natsu was death staring Duke in the eyes.

"Natsu. Go find Lucy and Sam's sister. Bring them back here safely, alright? We'll take care of this," Erza assured. Natsu looked back at Erza and she gave him a convincing smile. "Go."

"Alright." Natsu flames died down but the fire in his eyes didn't. He bent down in front of Sam and sniffed him, memorizing his unfamiliar scent. Sam took a step back, confused and terrified. Erza and Gray went ahead to attack the men that were about to attack.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked. Natsu was still sniffing, making sure he knew all of the compounds that makes up the scent.

"Siblings have similar scents. I'm just being cautious," Natsu informed. He didn't realize that he pretty much scared the kid.

"Oh…" Sam tried his best not to be rude. _He's weird. Who goes sniffing other people?_ Natsu watched Erza and Gray went into battle.

"I guess you should stay with me so you don't get in their way. You better not slow me down, kid." Natsu pick Sam on his back and ran as fast as lightning outside the entrance into the burned down garden. He trusted his friends. He knew they would win, more like he hoped. _Lucy. I will find you._

* * *

Duke watch the boy bend down and closing his eyes. _Wow. This dude is crazy. What the hell is he doing?_ He watched as the raven haired man and fire blazing women fighting his pathetic soldiers. Cracks formed on the shining marble floors and staining it with blood. He noticed the little boy the slayer was talking to. _So. Sam has come back to save his precious sister._ _Cute._ The boy was quickly put on the back of the man and they rushed outside. _Oh? They're looking for Lucy, too? They don't even know. This is perfect. I'll let her destroy her friends with her own two hands and then she'll finally stop struggling. She'll finally be broken. She'll won't have anyone to run back to but me._

* * *

Natsu could barely taste her strawberry vanilla scent. It barely grazed the air but he could still detect the odor. He ran down the stone pathway, not paying attention to the scenery around him. A breeze rushed in his face while Sam was rubbing against his back because of his speed. Evergreen trees stood in straight rows with small pink flowers surrounding each tree. Sam gripped his vest and whimpered at the intense speed they were running at.

Natsu followed the aroma, that was flowing quickly through his nose. He didn't care that Sam was afraid of the intensity. _I'm so close. She's here. I just want to see her._

With each step he took, the scent got stronger and overflowed his nose. He couldn't stop himself from inhaling the fragrance. It drugged him and he wanted more.

By the time Natsu noticed that the amount of Lucy's scent he inhaled had dramatically increase, he noticed a small, but long building in the distance. He stopped and observed the suspicious building. Gray bricks made up the walls as a long hallway connected the suspicious building. It was odd to see a big and fancy establishment connected to a dull and simple structure. _Lucy must be in there._

All he could think about was the luxurious scent that circled around the building. His nose chose to focus on nothing else but that sweet scent that he has always enjoy. The strawberry vanilla scent drove him to dig deeper into the delightful scent. It wrapped around his nose like it never wanted to leave and made it's way up his nostrils, then his brain. He growled as he came across a slightly faint metallic aroma. _Blood._ As he began to focus on the added aroma, it flooded his nostrils and overpowered the sweet scent he enjoyed. This made him angry. His canines began to flourish on his rage and sharpen like swords. Small indents appear below his eyes.

"Natsu?" His canines and scales slowly returned its normal state as the little boy tugged on his vest.

"Is this where Terri is?" He didn't want to tell Sam that he hadn't been focused on finding her scent and all of his attention had been on Lucy.

"She might be here. I haven't smelled her scent yet." It took all of his strength to not say anything about how he didn't even bother. _I hope Terri is here because I just want to safely take Lucy back to the others, without interruptions._ He felt guilty that he hasn't even felt a little consideration for Sam's older sister.

"Do you think they're safe?" Sam asked, and sniffled. He just wanted to see his dear sister.

"Yeah. I believe they're alright." The little kid needed hope. _Blood. This is definitely Lucy's blood. And there's a lot of it._

* * *

"Ice make lance!" Gray had his right hand flat out in front of him while his left hand was in a fist and resting on the surface of his hand. A blue magic circle appeared in front of him with complex designs. Long ice arrow-shaped rods came through the circle and attacked his foes. They fell to the ground due to the impact but quickly got back up. One of the men in the back pointed out their hand to them.

"Dark forbiddings!" A black cannon like shot was shot right towards Gray and Erza. Man-made wind carried across the room, making it difficult to see.

"Holy hammer!" Right before the blast hit them, Erza summoned forth a large hammer that protected her and Gray.

"Nice, Erza," Gray complimented. He gave her a quick smile before turning back to his enemy.

"Thanks." That was all she could muster. Her lungs were burning from all the magic power she had used previously. Her breaths quickened as her body tried to regain strength. Sweat dripped down the sides of her head.

"Ice make saucer!" The ice blade was flung into the man that was about to jump on Erza. Erza and Gray were trapped. Soldiers trapped Erza and Gray in a large circle, so they have nowhere to run. Erza and Gray's backs were pushed against each, but they kept their guard up. Even though Erza and Gray were stronger than all of them put together, they were still outnumbered, their strength and magic power was rushing out of them. Erza was panting more than Gray; it looked like she was about to collapse from exhaustion.

"Erza. You need to take it easy…" Gray mumbled worryingly for his childhood friend. He kept his fist up waiting for them to attack.

"No," she panted. "I need to keep going. I won't give up until Natsu has arrived safely with Lucy!" Her determination and will was the only thing that kept her going. She wanted to see her best friend back. She will not lose. She will not give up just because she is tired.

"Erza! You're pushing yourself too far! You could faint at any moment!" Gray cried desperately towards his friend, telling her about her situation. Men started to attack. "Ice make shield!"

"A warrior's pride shall not be undone! If that will guarantee my comrades safety, then I shall fight to the bitter end! I will not give up, just cause I am tired. " In her words, she forced herself to do one last requip. "Heaven's Wheel!" Big white wings appeared on her back as stomach and neck was revealed. A large billowing skirt emerged, covered with plates of metal. She held two identical swords in her hands, ready to strike. The men became uneasy as she summoned as many swords she could muster, that formed a large circle behind her.

"Erza! Stop, please! You're pushing yourself too much!" Gray begged. As he cried, he punched two men in the stomach, making them fall to the ground without cries or screams. He eyed worryingly toward his comrade.

"Just one last time…" she panted. "Dance, my blades!" Her blades pointed to every direction in the large room, toward her enemy. The sharp swords that circled her back, where sent flying towards her enemies. As they flew, the swords ripped through the cloth on all of their shoulders and pinned most of their foes to the faraway walls, leaving only about 10 standing men. Her armor was replaced by her white shirt with a blue cloth and short blue skirt. She fell to her knees. Her muscles were tense, and her lungs were begging for so much air that her vision began to cloud. _I don't remember using up this much magic power before._ She had a small smile on her face. _It's up to you now Gray._

"Erza!" Gray rushed to her aid as she almost hit the ground. Her body was hot and her muscles wouldn't relax in his arms.

"You did good. Now it's my turn." He gently laid down Erza, who was equally taking deep breaths. Her chest rose up and down as sweat laid on her forehead. He froze the ground below and made a box the protected Erza from outside forces. Cool air circulated around the box and her breathing slowed. Gray slowly stood up.

"Already boys," Gray pumped his fist together, "Let's dance."

* * *

 _Blood. Lucy's blood._ The scent filled his nose as his raged filled him up again. _No. Don't go berserk. Go berserk later. Rescue Lucy, tell her I love her, and she'll be my mate, right? No! I can't fuckin believe I'm thinking about this right now._ Natsu quickly ran up to the brick wall, sniffing for more of her scent. It was certainly got stronger when he came closer. _She has to be in here._

"Brace yourself, kid," Natsu warned.

"Uh huh…" he replied, sleepily. Natsu's body temperature rose to a high degree, but he made it flow to his hand. He slowly melted the brick and made a small hole, revealing an empty cell.

"What the hell?" he murmured. He felt more of his heat rush to his hand as he quickly melt the sides of the rock so he will be able to step through.

"I'm so tired...but I want to see sister…" Sam mumbled.

"Don't worry, Sam. When we find your sister, I'll wake you up!" Natsu assured softly as the little boy drifted off into another world. The molten goo flowed slowly to the ground, burning the grass beneath. Natsu slowly step through his man-made hole, carefully so Sam won't wake up. He smelled her illuminating scent as it circled the room. "She's so close!" he whispered. Natsu went to the bars in front of the cell and melted the metal, turning it to red, shining goo. He stepped through and quickly walked down the long hallway, following the scent. _Where is she?_ Natsu looked through every cell, hoping that each one would have Lucy, but no one was present. He became worried and agitated. _Where is she?_ He stopped in his tracks. _Calm down. Focus. Don't screw this up._ He sniffed the air, trying to test how far the scent went down the hall. He slowly began walking down the hall, with his eyes closed. Then after a few minutes of looking, he stopped where the scent was so intense. It circled around him and it made him dizzy inside. He opened his eyes and found a blonde haired girl sleeping against a cell wall. A little girl was laying in her lap as she slept. The scent was strongly circulating the air as he walked closer to the cell. _Lucy._ Tears fell down his cheeks as he stared at her. _I'm here._


	8. Chapter 8: Blood

Credit: ElementalMiko12 I loved the story that ElementalMiko12 wrote, so I wanted to continue it. I added my own plot, and used some their ideas for the story. **This chapter is kinda short, but let's roll with it. Yeah I know. Grammar sucks. ;p**

* * *

"Gray…" Erza mumbled. She felt cold, like she was thrown into the coldest ocean that ever existed, but she felt piping hot. Her insides burned while her skin was about to fall off.

A hard, but familiar surface pushed against her back. Her legs were so weak; she felt like they were sticks. Her body tense. Muscles all over her body were stiff and she could barely lift her arm. Erza forced her thin eyelids to open into the bright light. Her vision blurred and white light clouded her eyes. She didn't know if what she felt was pain, or if it was nothing. Her body was being forced down.

She heard grunts in the distance, but they felt so close. So close, that she wondered who the grunts belonged to. "Where am I?" she mumbled. Her voice was low. It took all of her strength just to speak. Her breathing accelerated. Her lungs were begging for air. More moans and screams came in the distance but she didn't know what was happening.

"AHHH!" she heard. It was loud, but all she heard was a soft cry. _Who is that?_ The scream was familiar.

"Who was that?" She heard another scream. Her eyes widened at the familiar voice. "Gray…" Memories flood her mind. She remembered why she was here, in this strange place. She here to recuse Lucy. Her friend, that just came back. Grunts escaped her mouth as she forced her arms to the top of the box that she was placed in. Her muscles ached, but she kept her stance. Her foot moved under her butt so she could keep her balance. She gasped for air. _Even standing weakens me._ As she stood above the cold barrier that was keeping her from seeing the outside world. As she stood, she saw the back of a raven haired man. He grunted in pain. "Gray!" she screamed. He held the side of his arm. His hand was covered in his blood, but it was slowly turning to ice.

"Erza! Stay down! You need to rest!" Gray insisted. He kicked the man in the stomach that was about to jump on him. The second foe came to him and punched Gray in stomach.

"Ahhh!" He coughed up blood and it landed on the man's black jacket. Gray removed his arm all punched the man in the jaw. The man fell back and hit the ground.

"Gray!" Erza stood up and lifted her leg to the other side of the box. She whimpered and froze her leg, but that made it worse. She lost her balance and fell out of the ice box.

"Erza!" Gray rushed to his friend. Her muscles still didn't want move, even though her comrade was injured. She felt ashamed. Gray quickly sat down next to her to make sure she wasn't hurt any further. "Erza, you got to be more careful," he whispered. His arm was still bleeding from the previous attack.

"You were hurt," she replied, softly. "I wanted to help…"

"I was find, Erza. You've done enough. Just rest." She didn't fight the drowsiness that wanted to calm her body.

* * *

 _Lucy._ He couldn't believe that she was right in front of him. Her blonde locks was scrunched up against the wall as she took her breaths. Her lips had a thin gap between them while she slept, making her more adorable. Her back was against the bumpy wall while the legs were extended outward so the little girl could rest her head against Lucy's thighs. Her cloak covered her whole upper body, only exposing Lucy's hands that were covered in light blue locks. Natsu focused on the air around them, sniffing the little girl's scent. He growled. _Why is Duke's scent all over her?! Did they… no they wouldn't._ His growl became louder at the thought. He examined her body more cautiously. Her perfect skin changed. Cuts appeared on her calves; red blood outlined her wounds and he noticed a pile of blood in the center of the room. Rage flourished through his body and tears escaped his eyes. _I'm sorry Lucy, that I couldn't protect you. It's my fault you went through this. If I had just been a better friend..._ His tears stained his cheeks. He felt guilty and ashamed that he couldn't protect his loved one.

His tears quickly evaporated in the air, leaving the scent of salt. _I promise. I'll do better._ After a few minutes of despair, Natsu decided to check if the little girl was Sam's sister. She smelled like lavender mixed with lemons. Fairly similar to Sam's, only he had some kind of meat smell too. He came to conclusion that the girl was Sam's older sister. Natsu smiled at the thought that Lucy already met his sister.

"Sam," Natsu whispered. He wiggled his hand gently that held on to Sam's thigh. His eyes slowly opened.

"What?" the little boy complained. "I'm tired…" he mumbled and tried to go back to sleep. He adjusted his position on Natsu's shoulder.

"Come on!" Natsu whined. It took all of his strength not rush by Lucy's side. "Don't you want to introduce me first?" Natsu asked.

"What are you talking about?" Sam opened his eyes again. Blurriness flooded his vision and he didn't want to open them any further. But he decided to widen his eyes, curious why Natsu had woken him up, and saw his sister sleeping peacefully. "Terri!" he shrieked. Natsu winced because of the loud, high pitched voice that scream in his ears. "Let's me down!" Sam commanded, excitedly. He wiggled his arms up and down.

"Shhh! You're so loud and they're sleeping," Natsu reminded. He slowly let Sam down his back. The little boy smiled and rubbed his eyes. He gripped the bars and jumped up and down. He eagerly tried to stuff his face between the bars so he could get to his sister, but frowned as the bars rejected him. Natsu smiled at the little boy's attempt and gripped the metal poles that forbid Natsu from reaching Lucy. His body heat surged to his hands and melted the unwanted metal. He picked up Sam, who was terrified at the liquid metal, and dropped him in the cell. Natsu followed the little boy into the dark cell while Sam rushed towards his sister. The little boy touched the cheek of his sibling.

"Terri. Wake up!" He spoke excitedly. Natsu stood behind Sam, curiously examining Lucy. He wanted to surprise Lucy after Sam, so he wait as patiently as he could. The little boy frowned as his sister did not respond, so he tried again. "Terri. Wake up!" he said, louder. This time her eyelids slightly opened but closed again.

"Lucy...can't I sleep more? I'm tired…" Terri mumbled and tried to drift back to sleep. She gripped Lucy cloak tightly, like it was going to disappear. Sam smiled.

"You're funny, sister!" Sam giggled. Terri immediately opened her eyes. _That voice! It can't be…_ Terri turned her head and faced a little boy. A tear fell down her cheek.

"Sam!" She quickly got up and covered her mouth. "Sam!" she repeated.

"Terri!" He fell in her arms and she engulfed him with hugs. "I missed you!" Sam cried. Lucy's eyes fluttered open from the noise. _What happened?_ Natsu rushed to her side. She opened her eyes and saw Terri hugging a little boy. _Who is that?_ She lifted her arms to rub the blurriness away from her vision, but she hissed and let her arm back down.

"Lucy!" Natsu touched her arm and she yanked it away.

"Who the hell-" She stopped speaking and emotions flooded her body. He grinned at her, leaving her speechless. "Natsu…" _He came! For me!_ His cheeks were bright red and his eyes were filled with an emotion that she was too familiar with. She fell in his embrace, ignoring the pain she brought to her wounds. Natsu lightly put his arms around her waist.

"Hey," he whispered in her ear while she sobbed. She gripped his shirt tighter, hoping it wasn't fake. She pulled away from his arms, her face stained with uncontrollable tears. "I'm sorry, Lucy," he wept. He gripped her tightly, making sure she wouldn't disappear. Lucy was slightly confused by his apology.

"Natsu, why are apologizing?" she whispered and rubbed his back, ignoring the stinging feeling in her arms.

"Because...you're hurt a-and bleeding, and I let this happen. If only I was more careful, this would have never happened," he mumbled. She was surprised he felt this way.

"You know this wasn't your fault. It was mine. I should have been more careful." His tears fell down his cheeks and he pressed his head against her shoulder. "If only I was more careful…"

"Natsu. It's no one's fault. Anyway, let's change the subject," she insisted and hugged him more tightly.

"You came for me?" she whispered, looking down his back. Natsu pulled away and frowned.

"Why wouldn't I come for you? I'm not letting my best friend get taken away right in front of me, and not do anything about it." He grinned, letting his tears disappear and pulled her in his arms. Her cheek lightly brushed against his. He felt her tears get spread across his cheek and he lightly blushed. "I will always come for you." Lucy smiled and blushed, hoping he wouldn't notice the rise in temperature in her cheeks.

"I believe you," she whispered. She remembered when she jumped off the giant tower that held her prisoner. She remembered how he caught her and her trust for him grew. "I trust you," she added.

"I trust you too." He rested his head against her's and whispered, "Let's go back to Erza and Gray, ok?" She smiled.

"Ok!" she approved and hugged him tightly. He twirled her golden lock a couple times and then stopped. Natsu wanted to spend more time with her, but they all needed to get back to the others.

"Let's go!" He grinned. They both brushed away their tears. Lucy turned to Terri, who was cradling her little brother in her lap.

"Terri. Let's go." Lucy smiled at her. "I carry him for you." Lucy offered.

"No. You're obviously hurt, Lucy…" Natsu said, smelling her fresh blood.

"Natsu! I'm fine I just-"

"Lucy. It's fine. I can carry him!" Terri reasoned and out her brother's arms around her neck. His head rested on her shoulder with his chest against her back. She held his thighs to her side as she stood up.

"Ok." Lucy began to get up but Natsu stopped her.

"You're not walking anywhere!" he growled. She was slightly terrified at his tone.

"Why not?" she demanded. "I can walk." Natsu shook his head.

"You seriously think I would let you walk with your injuries? Come on. I smell blood…" He mumbled the last few words and looked her in the eyes. "Please. It's obvious you're in pain right now. You just don't want to admit it. Let me carry you back." Natsu's eyes were begging her. She didn't want to say yes but she didn't want to say no.

"I agree with him, Lucy. You're too injured to do anything, Lucy! I want to help." Terri cried with tears at the edge of her eyes. She remembered how Duke treated her. Before Lucy could retort, Natsu pushed Lucy to his back. He slowly grabbed her thighs and pushed them against his waist. He was careful not to touch the large gashes on each of her thighs.

"Fine…" she mumbled. Her arms wrapped around Natsu's neck and rested her chin on his shoulder. She fought the stinging feeling that burned her skin.

"Let's go, Terri." Natsu beamed. He was happy see the love of his life. But his smiled immediately turned into a growl at the memory of Duke.

"Ok." She followed behind him. _Is that the Natsu Duke was talking about? Kinda looks like her loves her though…_

* * *

"Levy. Down worry! Natsu and the others will bring Lucy back! You can always count on them!" Droy assured. He rubbed her back to give her comfort, but she still wept.

"I know, but...He just took her! J-just like that!" she stuttered. "And I couldn't do anything to help her!" Levy cried everyday since Duke took Lucy away. Jet and Droy looked at her with pity. They don't know what they can do to make her feel better. All they could do was to give her hope that Natsu and the others will bring her back.

She couldn't even give her best friend hug. She felt helpless. She tried to focus on reading and take her mind off of that since the others were going to rescue her, but she still couldn't stop thinking about it. None of her hobbies distracted her from the pain she felt. She even tried to go on a job, but instead, she just stood there and put Jet and Droy in danger. She felt helpless.

Everyone looked at Levy, sad that one of their own got taken from them and Levy was crying. Everyone had guilt all around them. They abandoned their own, and it caused her to leave the guild.

Gajeel stood in the corner of the guild hall, with his hands shoved in his pockets. He didn't know how to calm down Levy because he didn't know how he was going to control his own anger and sorrow. He wanted to destroy the whole guild hall, but he knew he shouldn't do that. Gajeel was on a mission with Lily and he got back yesterday. He came back to a depressed guild. Mira was even weeping on the counter and didn't even want to work at the bar. He could have protected her if he never even took the damn job!

He looked around the guild and it was just as it was when Lucy left. Depressing. Everyone was grim and the joy they had a two week ago was in the trash. Man, even Gramps wasn't sayin' anything. He just sat on the bar counter with his arms crossed and his eyes closed.

Wendy was sitting at a table, next to Romeo, Happy, Lily and Carla. Happy was curled up on the table weeping while Wendy scratched behind his ears to calm him down. She was trying her best not to cry. Carla sadly sat next to Wendy, sipping tea. She didn't try to tell people to stop moping around because she was doing that too. Romeo sat in front of Wendy, playing with his weakened flames. "I miss Lucy…" Romeo mumbled. His elbow was perched on the table, so he could rest his cheek on his palm.

"I do, too," Wendy mumbled to him.

"I just want her to come back!" Happy cried. His tears flowed down his cheek and he didn't try to stop. "Please come back...please…" he whimpered. Hiccups filled his lungs and he would barely cry. Everyone in the guild looked at Happy with pity. He missed her more than all of them put together.

"She'll come back…" That was all Wendy could say as a tear fell down her cheek.

"Wendy. Don't cry. Natsu and the others will bring her back. Have faith in them." He smiled at her and she brushed away her tears and nodded.

"You're right, Romeo. She'll come back." Wendy tried her best to smile, but she was still soaked in despair.

Lisanna looked around the guild. _Ughh. Why is everyone moping around that bitch?!_ Lisanna went on cleaning the dirty dishes behind the bar. _Fuck Lucy. This was my guild and she just took it from me! I was the light of the guild! I was the bright shining star and she just took my place! I even had Natsu wrapped around my finger! And Happy was my child! Now they don't even pay attention to me at all and I had to use a fuckin potion on them! He was suppose to love me! Not that weak bitch!_ Lisanna squeezed the cup so hard that she cracked the cup. _That weak bitch doesn't even know what she got herself into. Good thing I have two things up my sleeve._ Lisanna grinned and cleaned up the shards of glass. It scraped her skin and blood flowed out palm. _I'm gonna make you bleed so much more, Lucy._

Wendy had an idea and she thought it would make everyone feel a bit better. "Hey guys?" She wanted to tell Romeo, Happy, Carla and Lily first before she desired the guild's opinion.

"Yeah?" Romeo yawned.

"Since the grand ball thing is coming up, do you think everyone wants to do it in honor for Lucy's return? It would also get everyone cheered up!" Wendy beamed. She was proud of her idea.

"Yeah! That's a great idea!" Romeo smiled.

"Y-yeah! I think she'll love the idea!" Happy tried his hardest to stop his crying. "We'll be happy for Lucy!"

"That is a splendid idea, Wendy. How did you come up with it?" Carla asked.

"I don't know. I just thought of all the events that were close by. I forgot that the ball was like a month away," Wendy exclaimed.

"That's a wonderful idea! Everyone sure to be excited about this. You should go tell Master," Lily insisted.

"Alright!" Wendy said, cheerfully. She got up from the table and beamed as she walk towards Gramps. Everyone looked confused at how happy she was.

* * *

Natsu and the others entered the destroyed room, with Erza and Gray in the middle.

"Erza!" He rushed over to the unconscious girl lying in the middle of the floor next to Gray. "What the hell happened?!" Natsu look from Erza to Gray, to the defeated men lying around the room. He noticed Gray was bleeding in his left arm.

"Erza exhausted all of her magic power…" He stared down at his comrade, who was peacefully resting on the ground. He looked up at him, to see that Lucy was smiling at him, but her eyes were barely opened. Two kids were running behind Natsu. _Must be his sister._

"Lucy!" Gray stood up quickly to give her a hug.

"Hey Gray..." Lucy accepted the hug, but wasn't able to give him an embrace back. He laid his hand on an unexposed wound and it took all of her strength not to cry in pain. She squeezed Natsu's neck and wrinkled her forehead.

"Dude. Give the girl some space. She got some injures, ok?" Gray looked back at her. She gave him a weak smile and closed her eyes. There were small purple sacks hanging under her eyes and Gray frowned.

"You ok, Luce? I can freeze the wounds for you!" Gray urged. He removed his hand from her and a thin layer of frost covered his hand.

"No. I'm fine, really." Lucy declined. She gave him an assuring smile but he was unconvinced.

"Ok…If you're sure. I trust you." He smiled and turned you Natsu

"You're ok, Flame-brain?" Natsu was beginning to sit down next to Erza.

"Yeah. I'm ok." He carefully laid Lucy down next to Erza, and let her head rest in his lap. Natsu studied her face. He focused on the curves of her face. Her cheeks were red and he noticed the small purple bags under her eyes. _She must not have gotten enough sleep._ He traced her cheek with his thumb. Her lips were pink and he was dying kiss her, but he ignored that feeling. He knew it would be a bad idea to kiss her. Especially now. Gray decided to the break the silence that was among the friends.

"Is that Sam's sister?" Gray turned to her, who was caring Sam on her back. She nodded as Natsu replied, "Yep. She was with Lucy!" Natsu grinned and looked at Terri. "Made things a lot easier!" Terri giggled and looked at Gray.

"My name is Gray. So your name is Terri, right?" Gray asked. Terri sat down next to Lucy and let her brother rest next to the blonde.

"Yeah. Nice to meet you Gray." she said back. He held out his uninjured arm and she shook it. She noticed the blood on his other arm and surprised that he wasn't bothered by it.

"So, you guys are Lucy's friends?" Terri smiled. She'd only known her for two weeks, but she looked up to her. Lucy stood up for her, like an older sister.

"More like family. We're all a part of the same guild!" Gray chuckled and show her his emblem on her chest. Natsu looked up and held up Lucy's hand and put it next to his emblem, but noticed that she didn't get the stamp yet. His smiled faded and laid her hand back down and didn't look up again. Terri was slightly confused by his actions, but she knew she didn't have the full story. _I shouldn't ask._ Instead, she turned her mind to focus on something else.

"What's a guild? I never heard of it before," Terri asked, trying her best to sound curious. It was true that she didn't know what a guild was, but she wanted to know about Lucy's past.

"You don't know what a guild is?" Gray perplexed. "There are a lot of different types of guilds, but we're a wizard guild," Gray explained. _They're all wizards..._

"So your guild is made up of bunch of wizards?"

"Yeah." " _Lucy is a wizard!" she thought._

"Yeah!" Gray was surprised she didn't know what guilds were.

"And so those marks…" She pointed to the bird-like mark on his on his chest, then looked at Natsu's shoulder.

"It's the Fairy Tail emblem. It means that you're our guild and family," Gray said proudly, punching his muscular chest.

"Oh I get it! They're like family crests!" Terri beamed.

"Yeah! I guess you could put it like that." Gray smiled. Terri thought of her family and her family crest engraved on her back. _Mom, Dad. Would you be proud of me? Of my future decisions?_

Natsu looked at Lucy, like she was going to disappear at any moment. He didn't want to stop looking at her. He was drugged by her scent, how enchanting it was. But he could still smell blood. He could still smell the pain she went through in this hellhole. He watched her chest rise, then lower. Water droplets formed at the side of her head. _Is she sweating?_ Her breathing accelerated.

"Gray!" He looked at Natsu, who was gripping her hand tightly. "Can-you-cool-her-down-or-somethin'? I-I don't know what to do!" Natsu panicked. Gray hurried to Lucy's side, and placed both of his hands on her quickly rising and descending stomach. Cold air came from his hand as he tried to cool her down. Her breathing slightly slowed, but it wasn't enough. _He is an ice wizard...could he..._

"Hang in there, Lucy!" Natsu tried his best to comfort her. Terri snapped out of her thoughts rushed to her side and panicked. _Ok! Ok! What happened? Umm THINK TERRI COME ON! What did he do?_ She pressed her hands to the sides of her head and wrinkled her forehead.

"Come on! What did he do?" She screamed at herself. Gray was focused on cooling her down while Natsu watched, helplessly. She stopped thinking. Her thoughts went blank as she looked down at Lucy. _The ceremony. He started it too soon. He is suppose to wait for 6 more hours. What will happen to Lucy since he started the final stage too early?_

"Well, well. Terri, you've seemed to figure it out." Duke appeared on the balcony and smirked. _I don't understand. He has to wait until she gives in completely._

"What did you do to her?!" Natsu demanded. Flames erupted from his hands and canines formed and grazed his bottom lip. "I said WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO HER?!"

"Now, now dragon boy. That's not a way to greet your superiors." Duke smirked and pointed his finger. "Don't get ahead of yourself, boy." Flames erupted from the bottom of his feet as he prepared to throw himself at Duke. "Cute~!" Duke wanted to make Natsu even more angry. He wanted to toy with her friends before their deaths. "This little bad boy needs a punishment." Duke snapped his fingers and a high pitch uproar filled their ears.


	9. Twin

Credit: ElementalMiko12 I loved the story that ElementalMiko12 wrote, so I wanted to continue it. I added my own plot, and used some their ideas for the story. **Sorry this took forever! But summer is in 7 days so I can post more!**

* * *

Screams filled their ears. Natsu held his hands to his ears and looked behind him, horrified. Erza watched Gray do his best to soothe the screaming girl, but nothing was working. Natsu run over to her and held her hands. Her hands immediately gripped his fingers, trying to rid her body of pain. "Stop! Please!" he begged.

Tears fell out off his eyes and onto the ground, splattering the salty teardrops. He didn't want to see her in pain. It felt like it went on for hours. The screams echoed through his mind and pain struck him. It cut through his mind and tortured his heart as he watched his nakama in pain. her scream slowly died down as Natsu's mental pain eased. Her breathing was still fast and consistent. He held her hand, spreading his warmth through her body, telling her he was there. Her eyes were closed and her body felt stiff. He could still hear small whimpers escaping her mouth. Natsu stared at Duke, thinking of all the ways he could tear him apart. Duke smirked.

"Huh," he sighed. "Her screams fill my ears," he said. "Although, it does disappoint me that she stop," he falsely saddened. Duke turned and walked down the stairs, that lead him to the side of the room. Natsu watched him carefully, tightening his hold on the soft hands. Duke stopped at the bottom of the stairs and smiled to the group. "Well, isn't this sweet? Lucy can finally get rid of the pain that kept her from me. You can finally be," he smirked, "Dead." Duke had his hands behind his back, casually standing in one spot.

"Shut up!" Gray was furious at the man who was playing with his best friend. He didn't want Duke anywhere near her.

"Oh, well. Lucy, come here, won't you darling?" Natsu growled at him.

"Lucy isn't going anywhere with you!" he exploded. Natsu stood in front of his allies, protecting them from any danger. Duke smirked and sighed.

"Oh, I think she is," he assured. Lucy slowly got up from her lying position. Erza grabbed her arm and pulled her down, but I didn't stop her, at all.

"Lucy! What are you-" Erza stopped, and pulled Lucy's arm with all of her might. Her skin was ice cold, like she was dead. It was pale as snow, and felt like death. Erza loosened her grip, horrified. "Lucy!" _She can't be dead. She's moving. S-she can't be._ Lucy was like a machine. Gray hurried in front of her and pushed her back, but she didn't even flinch from all the strength he pushed her with. Instead, Gray was the one that was being pushed. Duke kicked Gray in the stomach to move him out of the way. She walked towards Duke, slowly but surely, like she wanted to be with him. Natsu stood still like a statue, unsure of what he should do. He just watched her slowly make her way towards the raven haired man.

"What the hell did you do to her?!" Flames melted the white marble below his feet, turning it black. Lucy stopped and positioned her body in front of Duke and faced them. Her eyes were dull and emotionless. She stood like a soldier, waiting to be put in battle. Natsu was furious that she was being treated like this, like a doll that was toyed with. "Let her go!" he demanded. His flames erupted from his hands. Natsu ran towards Duke, preparing to demolish his cocky grin, but Natsu ran into a see through wall that kept him from his target.

Duke lowered his head, and slowly moved the cloak that covered her neck, to reveal a strip of black cloth underneath. His lips pressed against the side of her neck and began to run his tongue along the fresh, over her red cuts. Duke moved his hands to her glorious hips and rubbed his hand up and down the curves of her body. Lucy stood there still, unbothered by his sexual desires. He slowly nipped her jaw as he made his way to her earlobe. He sucked on the dangling flesh.

Natsu watch irritation as he watch Duke use her body. _Mine. She's MINE!_ Natsu punched the see-through wall with all the force he could put out with, but didn't make a dent. Scales slowly surfaced under his eyes. His fangs push its way, feeding on the anger he held. Duke watched, satisfied by Natsu's rage. "My dear," Duke whispered in her ear, "It's time. Destroy them." Her eyes turned black as night, and dark red pupils emerged. Erza watched her chocolate eyes faded away, and replaced with eyes of destruction. Natsu punched the wall constantly, watching her eyes change.

"What the hell did you do to her?!" he growled. Duke removed his hands from her body, and backed away. He walked up the stairs and onto the balcony watching the sight. Natsu didn't pay attention to Duke as he left. He kept his eyes on the blonde with was slowly walking towards him. "Lucy? Are you there?" he whispered. Silence was his reply. He watched as she walked through the invisible wall. She stopped in front of his, looking in his dark eyes. She laid her hand flat in the middle of his chest and he smiled.

"Lucy-"

"Force Palm." A magic circle appeared between her hand and his chest and in seconds, Natsu was flung into a faraway wall, past Gray, Terri, and Erza. His back smashed against the pale colored wood, leaving an imprint on the wall.

"Lucy! Why did you do that?" Erza cried. "This can't be Lucy!" Erza summon forth all the swords she could muster, trapping Lucy in a circle of swords.

"Erza! Stop!" Gray screamed.

"Don't touch her, Erza! I-I'll deal with her!" Natsu begged.

"Duke! Let her go! Release your ceremony!" Terri screamed. Duke smirked at her.

"So you did figure it out. Smart Terri."

"The ceremony started too soon! You're gonna kill her!" Terri begged him to release his hold. "I shall take her place! Just leave her be!"

"I don't want you. Go away." Terri had tears run down her face. "She won't die, Terri. I'm just giving her soul what it need. It will rise up to heaven and rest while her body will be in my hands." Duke flex his arms and laughed.

"You're ripping her soul out of her body?! That defines the law of magic!"

"This is how magic is supposed to be used! This is the beauty of magic!" His head tilted back and snickered. "Destroy them!" Natsu ran in front of Terri, Sam Erza, and Gray and put his arms out, blocking them.

"I'll take care of her. Please, let me," Natsu begged. Erza's swords materialized, returning back to their dimension. They all stepped back to the front of the destroyed entrance, watching Natsu lowering his arms to his sides.

"Terri," Erza growled. "You seem to understand what is happening to our comrade. Care to explain?" Erza asked, more like demanding. Her voice was low and filled with anger. Terri hesitated.

"Duke is using a forbidden magic from our tribe," she spoke, looking at Sam. "I have not been able to move farther along in my training, but I do know the basics of the spell."

"What does it do? And how can we stop it?" Gray asked quickly, not taking his eyes off of Natsu. He was saying something to Lucy, but they were too far away for Gray to hear.

"In the first stage, the spell brings upon the darkest emotions or memories the target's has to the surface. The more emotions, the easier it is to control the target.

"Dark emotions…" Erza mumbled. _Could it be?_

"When the caster knows all or most of the emotions, they have a stronger hold of the target's emotions. They caster can make the emotions rise to the surface, and push back the target's consciousness. It's basically giving life to Lucy's dark self and making it dominant. The emotions attack the person or thing that gave them the most pain. Right now, our Lucy isn't here with us. The one that attacked Natsu, is her dark emotions." Terri picked up the sleepy Sam and caddied him on her back.

"What about when you said he started the ceremony too early?..." Gray whispered.

"When Duke starts the ceremony, he has to wait until she completely gives in… See those small back veins on her forehead?" Terri pointed to Lucy, showing them the small veins that barely shows on the side of her forehead.

"Yeah, what does it mean?" Erza growled.

"It means Lucy is still resisting, but she doesn't know what going on in the real world. She's fighting her emotions right now…"

"She doesn't know that we're here?!" Gray perplexed.

"Most likely, no," she whispered, sadly. "If this continues, her soul will be ripped out of her body…"

"Then what will happen?!" Gray asked, nervously, hoping for her not to answer.

"The most basic way to put it is…" Terri hesitated. "She'll die…" Everyone stared at her. "I believe that he can bring her back. All we can do, is watch Natsu."

* * *

"Who are you?!" Lucy demanded. Lucy looked around her and all she could see was an endless white setting. The small black cloud in front of her took form and created a duplicate of Lucy. The duplicate smiled.

"Can't you see? I'm you!" she claimed, with anger in her voice. Lucy stepped back, unconvinced that the dark form in front of his was herself.

"Whaa-"

" _You_ don't believe yourself? How utterly amusing." Her duplicate slowly walked up towards her and put her face close to her's. "All I need to do, is to destroy this tiny part of you and I will finally be free. No more hiding in this pathetic body." Lucy quickly realized this was Duke's doing. She remembered studying the ceremony back when she was at the tribe.

"I won't let you win!" Lucy growled. Her fists clenched at her sides.

"How are you gonna win? I have most of your body taken over!"

"We'll see about that!" Lucy swiftly ran to her twin with her fist pulled back and her twin did the same. Their fists meet, creating large waves of wind pushing outward. Their hair and cape flowed in the direction of the wind.

"Why do you want to fight your true feelings?!" Lucy threw her leg at her and her twin did the same, creating a shock-wave of air, rippling through the surroundings. "He is the reason why we felt pain! And he will pay!" The twin punched Lucy in the stomach and in that moment, Lucy remembered the pain of beginning forgotten.

* * *

"Lucy, stop!" Natsu blocked the fist that came to his stomach with his hand. Lucy tried to trip him by swinging her leg below him, but Natsu jumped up. "Lucy! Please! Can't you hear me?" he begged. Natsu didn't want to hurt his best friend that he cared for deeply. Lucy quickly backed at away and Natsu noticed the veins on her forehead were pulsing. It grew and shrunk over and over again, but he ignored it. Lucy stood up straight and looked at him with no emotion.

"He loves Lisanna. I was never accepted. I was never family. I was always weak," she mumbled. Natsu could barely hear her, but was still able to put together the words and he was shocked.

"Lucy-"

"I was never a part of the guild...I should have never joined...I was a replacement…" Lucy mumbled and he was angry that he let her think this. He was angry that she felt this way and he never tried to comfort her. _Even if I don't remember, it won't erase the pain I caused you._ She was never Lisanna's replacement, but it didn't matter unless Lucy knew his feelings for her. "I loved him, but he loved Lisanna." Angry filled her tone as she began to attack. "I was a replacement!" The others could hear her rage and her disappointment.

"Lucy! You were never a replacement. We all love you!" Erza cried. She was about to run up to her when Gray held her arm.

"Gray! What are-"

"Don't interfere. That faith in Natsu!" Gray growled and released her arm. She couldn't just stand back while her two closest friend battled it out in front of her. She would stop the fight right now, but she knew this was not one of those situations. This was different. She had to put faith in Natsu that he will save Lucy, but at the same time, she felt like he wouldn't bring her back.

"Ok…" she whispered and watched the two wizards.

"Lucy! You were never-" Lucy ran up to Natsu and punched him in the chest, before letting him finish, and knocking him to the ground. Natsu threw up blood that stained the ground with more of the metallic essence. "You were always family! We never meant to hurt you!" Natsu cried. Lucy stared at him with no expression. Her dull eyes pierced through him like a blade, stabbing him in the heart. Lucy ran to him, swinging her leg to the side of his thigh. Her foot meet his thigh, and strong wind flowed around the room. Natsu stood his ground, unhurt by her kick. The black veins were faint on her forehead, but still showing.

"I was failure! I was a replacement! I was never accepted!" Her voice was low. Her words stabbed Natsu. Tears rushed out of his eyes. Terri mentioned this spell brought her darkest emotions to the surface. _This can't be true. Is this how she felt the whole time? I did this to her. It's my fault._

A leg met her stomach and Lucy grunted, falling to the ground. Even if she was here mentally, her muscles tensed up. She was tired and didn't know if she could go on like this. Her twin punched Lucy in her jaw, making her scream. _Why am I so weak? This wouldn't even hurt if I had all my strength._ Lucy's arms caught her fall, holding up her upper-body. Her legs were stiff from exhaustion, but she chose to ignore it as best as she could. Her muscles ached more, but she stood up slowly, facing her opponent that was barely scratched.

"You wanna know why that you're so weak?" Her twin smirked, putting a hand on her hips. "I almost have full control of your physical body. All I have to do, is destroy the last bit of light in this body and you'll be gone forever!" She laughed leaning back. "I mean, it was too easy! You had so many emotions, it was too easy bringing them out of you! No wonder why you're so weak! No wonder why Natsu doesn't care about us, it's almost hilarious!" Lucy growled at the laughing stock in front of her. "You'll never gain his love. We both know he loves Lisanna." Lucy's emotion took over and she punched her in the chest.

"Shut up!" The twin fell back and grunted in pain. Lucy kicked her twin on the side of her thigh and she fell back, falling to the ground. The twin laughed.

"You have to admit it though. Lisanna is stronger than us. That's why he prefers her! But when I get full control, they will pay!" Her twin got up and and kicked Lucy in her jaw, almost knocking her out. "He will pay for what he did to us! For what he did to me! Our father ignored us," her twin whispered in her ear, "He ignored us! He brought me up out of you again just like what our father did! He will pay for what he did to us, to me! Every one of them will pay with their lives!"

"You stay away from them!" Lucy slowly got up and stood eye to eye with her foe. She didn't want them hurt.

"I know your emotions, Lucy. I know you want them gone! And I will make our dream a reality! Just die!" she scream as she punched Lucy in the gut, making her fall forward, clutching onto her stomach. "I will make everyone pay!" Her twin picked up Lucy and threw her to the side, making her grunt in even more pain. "They will die!"

"No they won't. Even if I disappear, they won't let that happen!" With all of her strength, Lucy punched her twin in her jaw, making her fall back.

"Just disappear already! Natsu never cared about us. He only cares about Lisanna!'


End file.
